alt Hacker NewsCrypto is not necessarily just a casino; the tech has value but there is no mass adoption of the currency as of yet.
We'll probably see mass adoption of crypto if a crypto can become a store of wealth
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Crypto currency uses up to 1.5% of the world's electricity, makes up 2.5% of the world's money, uses up to 0.1% of the fresh water supply, and perhaps as high as 6-10% of silicon chips produced.
And yet, as you say, there's no mass adaption (yet). All it's doing is making tech bros and speculators even richer. It's possible that wider adoption will eventually happen, but as years pass this claim gets harder and harder to make. It's not any easier for "normal" people to use than it was ten years ago, and the main use cases are still "speculation" and "paying for drugs", also just like ten years ago.
From someone who also genuinely thinks the underlying crypto tech is fascinating, it's hard not to see the "currency" part of it as a kind of cancerous growth on the world economy.
There is no value in a currency that isn't mass adopted. That was the whole reason we switched from trading 100 breads for 1 pig etc.
In order to be that currency it cannot be volatile. Ask any country with high inflation how useful their actual currency is...