Most times people blame crypto, they use it incorrectly

Crypto may be counter-intuitive at times, self-custody is way harder than your regular consumer-focused apps, fees bite, and mistakes are costly – that's all true.

However!

Blockchain is a powerful tool that comes with an ENORMOUS manual that keeps updating too. And it's up to the users to learn to utilize it in an efficient way or skip the manual, do something that leaves them frustrated and disappointed, and then blame the whole thing.

Reading bad experiences with crypto often reminds me of reading reviews on things written by people who clearly used them incorrectly or struggle with basic logic. "This TV sucks because monthly subscriptions are too expensive" or "This washer stained my whites when I did a mixed load" or "Cars suck because I got a flat tire and got late for work, while it was supposed to make my commute faster"… you know the ones.

So here are some common cases when people use crypto WRONG and then say it sucks:

(I'll go from most to least obvious)

1) A centralized platform goes tits up. "Crypto sucks, I lost my money!"

Really, self-explanatory.

2) A shitcoin rugs. "I lost my money, crypto is a scam!"

Well, what did you expect buying into PEPELONAIROCKET?!

3) Getting a wallet hacked.

Getting hacked is no joke. There are elaborate attacks out there that can overcome some layers of security. But in most cases people get hacked in crypto because they unknowingly approve a malicious contract, interact with a scam NFT, expose their keys online or to a virus-ridden device.

Even a cold wallet won't protect you if you connect it to a malicious site and approve some shady contract or interact with a scam NFT in your OpenSea hidden folder. This is terrifying. But that's what self-custody is all about – zero supervision. It's up to the user what to connect to and what to approve.

Same thing will happen if you give a scammer all your credit card info (number, pin, cvv and all that stuff).

4) ETH fees higher than the amount to move. It cost me $10 to move $2. This is bullshit!

Learn about networks and fees in advance. Of course it sucks. Same as paying $50 for the delivery of your $10 online purchase. Not FedEx's fault they charge you their regular fee.

The workarounds are using a different chain in the first place or not getting into this $2 opportunity altogether.

5) Getting stranded without gas. I sent USDC to my wallet, now I can't do anything with it! I'll need to buy ETH and pay fees several times to move it! What a joke!

Yes, that's what gas is. That's the whole point of gas. You learn the easy way or the hard way.

Like with a car. You get stranded with an empty tank, and now you have to get your uncle to drive 50 miles just to deliver you $100 worth of gas. Is it the car's fault though?

6) Choosing sub-optimal routes for wrapping/bridging and ending up overpaying.

The days of $100 Ethereum gas fees are in the past (at least most of the time), yet some people go out of their way to overpay in ridiculous proportions (that post about paying "110 dollar to bridge 25 matic to ethereum")

There are lots of different options and alternatives. But it's ultimately up to a particular user to do a bit of research, ask around OR "pay 110 dollar to bridge 25 matic to ethereum" and blame crypto.

It's the same as complaining at your long-ass and expensive railway trip from London to Southampton. The railway doesn't suck if you choose to go from London to Southampton all the way through Manchester with a bunch of transfers!

You can blame crypto while you wait over a week to bridge ETH from Arbitrum to Mainnet and pay ridiculous fees on BOTH chains (using the official bridge), or you can use instant and cheap alternatives.

Another common example: instead of buying ETH on an exchange, sending Ethereum ETH to your wallet (pay ETH fees), then bridging Ethereum ETH to Polygon (pay ETH fees again and wait), you can just withdraw MATIC on Polygon and swap it for Polygon ETH (instant, pay MATIC fees up to $0.1).

...

I may have missed a bunch, feel free to add to the list!

TL;DR: crypto is a powerful tool that takes a lot of learning for efficient use. Most complaints about crypto come from people who obviously used it incorrectly or misunderstood the purpose of it.