I think it does make sense to differentiate classic currencies, vs modern cryptocurrency devices. While it is helpful to associate the idea of what crypto can be used for with a traditional concept that people are familiar with, that is only a limited use case. BitCoin is as close to a currency for most people, but cryptos that came after that are indeed more like protocols that are designed to facilitate a specific use case, yet still be able to function as crypto. So the idea of crypto is evolving, and has already moved beyond the use case of just a currency.

Since those individual cryptos have value outside of currency themselves, buying them and holding them because you believe they will appreciate, then indeed it is a digital asset. I own XRP, but I doubt I will ever use it for the intended use case it was designed for.