RE: The Decentralized Exchange Showdown: Where To Put Your Cryptos For Safe, Headache-Free Trading & Storage...?
there was a key point @andrarchy brought up partially related to this concern in this last video of his...
essentially, he's saying the USD is being used now because of the value of its FAMILIARITY. people are already familiar with the instrument of a dollar, so it's the most easily-relatable thing for them to compare these cryptos with.
in time, things can shift - but for now, using such a comparative/pegged model is a simplification tool to help new users who aren't highly financially literate to get into the game.
as to your other questions, I'm really not sure. the decentralized exchanges could help keep off the Fed map to a degree - though inevitably, opting out altogether would require more merchants accepting cryptos.
I suppose the closest now would be to send Steem (Dollars) to a decentralized exchange, from which you could spend via a Bitcoin/crypto debit/credit card - though there's still that final conversion taking place as it goes into the merchant's account.
i'm also curious about the answers to those questions of yours...
I enjoyed that video as well. Because I run a company supporting 2k+ merchants, and I've been into crypto for three and a half years trying to get them onboard, I get how myopic our views on crypto adoption can be. Most people, unfortunately, don't care at all. I think the USD peg is brilliant and will certainly help, but I've been discouraged over the years trying to facilitate mass adoption. Hopefully Steemit can help with that too. Ultimately, for new people to join up, they need to exchange USD for crypto or they need to build the entire supply chain in crypto (vendors, employees, customers all demanding payment in crypto). That requires stability and trust. I hope posts like this can help people find more trustworthy, decentralized solutions.