It is ironic that a lot of us are now thinking that for cryptocurrency to move forward, we'll need the backing of financial institutions. The same institutions that we're fighting when all this started.
This is a good remark. Because everything that crypto currently (or has) stood far, is changing. The dynamics of decentralization, privacy and freedom are getting morphed. To add to the OP, this could be analyzed from a perspective of the study of human behavior.. we are drawn to central authorities for order.
There's no doubt crypto is becoming more centralized, both within certain networks and every business surrounding/making up the current/future climates. Investors and enthusiasts are not interested in the inherent philosophy blockchain and Bitcoin where founded on, that's going to be lost, especially if the "proposed bans" on privacy-cryptos actually takes hold in the future. While i respect what some crypto-funded business have done for crypto as a whole (namely Binance), their increasing monopolistic behavior, to maintain relevancy, is somewhat damaging to the inherent representation in the space they're operating within.
The future will be determined not by the average guy, but the guys who hold authority and power, and to use it to promote the environment in-which, again, is steadily being lost to an extent.