You bring up some great points. The crypto space is confusing and it goes against what you have been accustomed to your entire life.
Unknowingly, you did raise some important points in your piece about why Bitcoin and crypto are important. The global and national debts are insane and governments continue to print money like that will solve the problem. It's similar to a dcotor prescribing heroin to a heroin addict.
Gold, silver, and dollars only have value because as a society we assign value to them. If aliens came to earth tomorrow, do you think that they would immediately understand value in our greenbacks or a metal that sits in vaults with guards?
At base level, I would say that crypto is money+technology. Just like the internet is information+technology or social media is connecting+technology or Netflix is movies+technology.
The cornerstone is Bitcoin, which is in a class of its own. It is governed by mathematics which, as an educated person, I'm sure you would appreciate. The total supply of Bitcoin is 21 million. No government, CEO, corporation, or cartel can print/mint more.
Bitcoin has reached a tipping point where it is being recognized as a store of value more so than gold, dollars, and silver. Hence, it's price performance.
Much of the rest of the crypto market (decentralized finance or DeFI) is about removing middlemen (think banks) that charge us fees and pay us 0.4% interest rates on "high-yield" savings accounts.
There are other projects like NFTs, gaming, music, and decentralized platforms that are discovering new ways of assigning ownership and interacting in the digital world.
Youth are embracing crypto. I'm guessing that you (like me) would prefer to have a face to face or phone conversation with a good friend or family member. Much of the youth is satisfied with a check in on social media or text message. Would you want to invest in Pacific Bell (if it were still around) or Apple today?
Sorry for the long reply. My recommendation is to first learn about Bitcoin and then learn about Ethereum. There are several great videos on YouTube that I was able to understand so I'm positive you can understand it too.
Just like you weren't too late to Apple, you aren't too late for Bitcoin or crypto (my opinion, not financial advice). I dollar cost average into it with a portion of my portfolio that I can afford to lose. In the meantime, I earn up to 10% APY lending out a stablecoin backed by dollars.
