RE: If banks and exchanges can hold our money against our will, crypto is essentially pointless.

[minismallholding]

I was meaning more along the lines of it being intangible and conceptual.
Even if we were all geeks the government could still exact control via banning businesses from using it or making it too problematic for them to want to use. Just like anyone employed had no choice about paying tax because the business is removes it from their wages for them.