I didn't "get" why Crypto existed until I saw a list of Bitcoin casinos on Bitcointalk back in 2014. Then it clicked instantly.
"OH. It's freedom."
That lead me down the rabbit hole...central banking...2008 collapse...drug wars...and it hasn't stopped since.
Crypto has changed my world view and perspective. For the better, I like to think, although ignorance can be bliss. :-)
Thanks for sharing. I had a very similar situation in 2013. I did stock trading and investing and kept seeing the word Bitcoin in the financial articles. I think the first time I saw it was April of 2013 in the Greece bank run. My first thoughts was this is going to be so hacked out of existence it will never last. Then I found the whitepaper. Bitcoin a P2P cash system. The part when it starts talking about networks and decentralization my mind was blown and light bulbs starting going off in my head. I said wait! This is huge! Been down that rabbit hole ever since.
Yeah, I thought the "hacked" thing too. Which has happened, but on the central exchanges, of course. Thinking about it as Bittorrent for money really helped. It's funny that people said that mining was passe and unprofitable way back then.