For a crypto-skeptic, this is actually a stunning admission: "Any application that could be done on a blockchain could be better done on a centralized database

For a crypto-skeptic, this is actually a stunning admission: "Any application that could be done on a blockchain could be better done on a centralized database. Except crime." If you acknowledge this, then you acknowledge that crypto has a unique value proposition of being able to shield ones financial transactions. From there, you have to pull in a lot of assumptions that the only time this will be valuable is crime, not to mention what seems to be an assumption that all crime is morally determined to be crime.