Early crypto was an innovation in that certain aspects of the financial system were set to be controlled solely by code, and could not be influenced by any outs

Early crypto was an innovation in that certain aspects of the financial system were set to be controlled solely by code, and could not be influenced by any outside force. For example, no one can magically issue new bitcoins. The entire idea isn’t anarchy, but guaranteed constants separated from centralized authorities that could change parameters on a whim. It’s why you’ll occasionally hear people who have been in the crypto space for awhile say, “code is law.” Again, you really need to understand the criticisms of 2008 to understand Bitcoin. Modern crypto? Well it’s changed a lot over the years. Sure a lot of it is about “innovations”, and there are some genuinely good ideas out there, but a lot of it feels like the transition from the early web to what we have now. That can be good or bad depending on your point of view.