Cryptocurrency is, in a sense, a bottom-up tool against top-down state control of a finance system. This is not strictly a good or a bad thing; just a thing.
If the people of a country have a "common law" underlying their bottom-up interactions, that already works on its own as a basis for a productive and growing economy — but a totalitarian state has imposed top-down laws that interfere with that productive economy — then crypto will help "route around" that totalitarian state, and thereby help the economy.
If the people of a country include a large criminal element that would forcefully put themselves in the position of rentier middleman, extracting all margin from interactions in the economy for themselves and so starving the country of growth capital — and the state has imposed top-down laws that interfere with that rent-extraction, in an attempt to get the economy going in the right direction — then crypto will help "route around" that well-meaning state, and thereby reinforce the criminal capture of the economy.
If the people of a country have a "common law" underlying their bottom-up interactions, that already works on its own as a basis for a productive and growing economy — but a totalitarian state has imposed top-down laws that interfere with that productive economy — then crypto will help "route around" that totalitarian state, and thereby help the economy.
If the people of a country include a large criminal element that would forcefully put themselves in the position of rentier middleman, extracting all margin from interactions in the economy for themselves and so starving the country of growth capital — and the state has imposed top-down laws that interfere with that rent-extraction, in an attempt to get the economy going in the right direction — then crypto will help "route around" that well-meaning state, and thereby reinforce the criminal capture of the economy.