> And beside some slogans, how exactly will cryptocurrency beat that "archaic" system

You should really try to see it from anything other than a consumer to get it, which most of you are not and never will be; inflation and fees are killing small businesses, which is why you're seeing more and more consolidation of market share. COVID exacerbated an already growing issue with diminishing market share in many Industries. Effectively by using these merchants who offer short term convenience you are slowly ensuring a monopoly will take place.

Hence the grow at all costs VC mantra; they're greedy but not stupid because they know most consumers are the most part uninformed in the value chain and will gravitate toward the path of least resistance even when the end outcome is that they're worse off than when they started. You're to be harvested in every sense of the word.

Consider that, if we are to focus on developed Western nations like the US, small businesses employ a majority of people so appealing to them with lower to no cost fees, with instant transactions and settlement, and include built-in accounting and auditing (no need for complex tax lawyers/accountants) this could be the nail in the coffin if you're really asking that question. Much needed regulation is always no where to be found in the traditional monetary system because financial institutions whether they be large mega banks or corps operate in an opaque, shadowy realm where they can have 0% tax liability yet record ever growing profits.

The real question is have we reached a breaking point of this by now? I'm not convinced this will be a matter decided at the nation-state level, it is in there interest to keep business as usual; it will be when enough people decide to opt-out of this system of perpetual exploitation and theft.

I also want to go on a rant about a topic about BS jobs qt the crux of my argument, but for clarity's sake I will remain on topic but I'll let your imagination run with how that would go.

The only real question left to answer is whether enough of the general public (of any nation) will ever be receptive to seeing Bitcoin in this light rather than the current mantra that it's a scam and to this end we need to improve. In the under developed nations, or where hyper inflation/currency collapse or even capital controls are common this has already taken place.

Moreover, the cost of maintaining these immense monoliths like Visa or Mastercard, are not only costly in a financial sense, but are prone to continuous hacks and breaches: which if you take as anything but an externality becomes the real sink on time and energy than anything like mining ever could,

Honestly, this is an optics issue because the tech is there; improvements are needed but LN has been making huge strides since the drop in the latest bubble (when the real work is done when no one is looking) and things like splicing are finally offering the privacy component that should have been built-in at the base layer.

Cash has a purpose, primarily that of privacy and fungability, but I think I'm speaking about something that like most who promote the use of spyware for a living that FOSS is the only way to operate in the 21st Century because of the inherit threeat to to one's privacy: the point is likely to be lost.

As for NFTs and such... while I dislike the term waste of time when we are still in the experimental phase, it has certainly detracted from overall progress more and more over time; because the narrative changes from an actual financial system to one of a hyper accelerated boom and bust cycle, and sadly the most hyped parts are often the biggest waste of resources--we've been here before with ICO and Crypto Kities.

In conclusion, I had to buy something on Saturday evening when banks were closed: the price warranted the extra effort and in the end I had to use 3 work arounds, using BTC no less, because the current fiat financial system didn't work. II had the funds, I just couldn't use them for this purpose.

It was a 4 figure purchase and getting that amount of cash or having a private party accept such a sum came with ever more complications the further I deviated from BTC and no staff from any of the typical merchants were there to make it happen.