> but cryptocurrencies themselves - when no used in the way, say, that subprime mortgages were - as vehicles for gambling - don't seem to be inherently corrupt.
If you take away gambling and speculation, cryptocurrencies lack a compelling use case when compared to competing technologies.
This is a very dishonest or ignorant response. Good luck sending somebody shells or gold to make a payment. And good luck with shell inflation. And good luck with every store needing to be able to test that gold is real, store it in vaults, etc
Don't be obtuse. Using crypto for payments isn't common.
Maybe you can make 1 on 1 payments to other people who are also convinced to use the same crypto as you. People who don't use that crypto (almost everyone in the world) or your grocery store (most in the world) won't take your payment in crypto.
If you take away gambling and speculation, cryptocurrencies lack a compelling use case when compared to competing technologies.