TCP
TC Pipelines LP
stock NYSE

Not necessarily. The internet was built on decades of work by scientists and engineers, with layers of protocols that most people have never even heard of.
Today, billions of people use the internet every day without knowing what HTTP, TCP/IP, or DNS are. They don’t need to understand the technology underneath, they just use the applications built on top of it.
I think crypto could end up being similar. The technology doesn’t necessarily have to be the product people interact with. It just needs to enable applications that people genuinely want to use.

I think this is basically right, but I’d frame it slightly differently. Crypto probably isn’t waiting for “mass adoption” in the way people often imagine it. The average person may never wake up and decide they want to use blockchains directly, just like they don’t think about TCP/IP, payment settlement, or cloud infrastructure when they use the internet.
The real question is whether crypto solves a backend problem that existing systems handle poorly: global settlement, programmable money, digital ownership, censorship resistance, machine-to-machine payments, or incentive coordination between strangers.
Most dApps so far haven’t been compelling because they ask users to care about the infrastructure itself. That’s backwards. The winning product probably won’t advertise itself as “crypto.” It will just be cheaper, faster, more open, more global, or more useful because crypto rails are underneath it. No one cares about the details of something just simply works. I don't know how most things work, but if they are efficient and easy to use, they're winners.
AI may be one of the better candidates for that. If agents need to pay for compute, APIs, data, storage, or other services automatically, crypto/stablecoin rails start to make more sense than traditional payment systems. DePIN is another version of the same idea. Coordinating real-world resources through tokens rather than a central company.
Crypto may be only one piece of the puzzle, but that doesn’t make it unimportant. The internet was “just” connected computers until applications made the network useful. Crypto may be “just” programmable value until something built on top of it makes people forget they’re using crypto at all. Everything in crypto right now is basically fighting against societal taboos and UI/UX problems. These apps absolutely suck to use for the most part. If the infrastructure can become invisible to the user, that's ironically the moment where it becomes most likely to succeed.

Like the internet, it's more of the backbone of the evolving financial system.
You don't actively use TCP/IP or DNS servers, but the apps and sites built on top of that. Most people in the western world that are driven by consumption and entertainment and don't care about building wealth but only to spend their money anywhere, will never see Bitcoin/Crypto as something useful.
And that's absolutely fine. The bank that is giving them a loan in their local currency to spend on anything will have Bitcoin on the balance sheet to be able to give out more loans.
Different to the internet, you can own a part of the financial backbone and benefit from the world adapting to it.

In the very, very unlikely (nearly impossible) event where the entire Global power grid is down, some people/communities would still be able to generate power through generators, hydropower and solar. In addition, mesh networks and HAM radio stations would fill the gap for communications/data relay.
[Here's an article that addresses some of the problems, challenges and solutions currently available.](https://d-central.tech/bitcoin-beyond-boundaries-transmitting-through-radio-waves/)
>Bitcoin’s transport layer diversity is growing. In 2026, we have satellite downlinks, LoRa mesh networks, shortwave relay, and experimental protocols all providing alternatives to plain internet TCP/IP. The [network hashrate](https://d-central.tech/mining-glossary/network-hashrate/) has crossed 1 zettahash per second. Difficulty has surged past 144 trillion. The block reward sits at 3.125 BTC following the April 2024 halving. Bitcoin is more robust, more distributed, and more resilient than ever.
Long story short, if humanity survives, Bitcoin survives.