I grew up in the time period before chat groups and search engines. Back in the day, we used to use dial-up to connect to a bulletin board type chat. You would dial in directly using a modem. If you wanted to visit a different bulletin board, you'd have to disconnect and dial the new board. Most computers had very little RAM. (16K was considered "extended RAM") LOL.
Anyway, I agree with much of what you said, but I also wanted to add that regardless of the system, there will always be a level of corruption because the systems are developed by humans and those same humans will find a way to exploit the crypto systems just as much as wall street or any government.
You can already see examples of this on steemit where certain whales self-vote and the heck with everyone else. I'm not taking sides, but I'm just pointing out that where people can find a way to get ahead of others, they will do it. Human nature.