Well, I think you're zooming in on why it is important that programmable money be true cryptocurrencies, i.e. no admins or VIPs with some special level of acces

Well, I think you're zooming in on why it is important that programmable money be true cryptocurrencies, i.e. no admins or VIPs with some special level of access. If there are special people with more authority than others, that authority will inevitably be used to say this person can't get paid, this person can't pay that person, you can't buy this stuff with it, these transactions will be taxed this much, etc. The key term is "trustlessness". The main idea is that the smart contract is specified, it can't be changed, and then the deployer locks himself out forever. Now there's no way to make a special exception for anyone, or change the inflation rate, or any other funny business. Everyone can see the rules and everyone can verify they can't change. Another useful set of criteria is aantonop's "five pillars of open blockchains".