> Why would the poor have wanted to switch to the Internet?
Look at the history and this is easily answered: it let them do things better/easier/cheaper. That could be shopping, accessing government services, dealing with companies, finding a job, seeking educational material, entertainment, dating, connecting with friends and family (email was a pretty sweet alternative to long distance phone calls), etc. The internet picked up sharply as computers came down in price and people tried even cheaper options like WebTV because there was so much demand, and that started happening very quickly.
In contrast, cryptocurrency had much lower barriers to entry but despite having at least twice as many years by that point it has very little non-speculative usage because it doesn’t do anything most people care about. Even being a cheaper PayPal/Venmo would be an improvement.
Look at the history and this is easily answered: it let them do things better/easier/cheaper. That could be shopping, accessing government services, dealing with companies, finding a job, seeking educational material, entertainment, dating, connecting with friends and family (email was a pretty sweet alternative to long distance phone calls), etc. The internet picked up sharply as computers came down in price and people tried even cheaper options like WebTV because there was so much demand, and that started happening very quickly.
In contrast, cryptocurrency had much lower barriers to entry but despite having at least twice as many years by that point it has very little non-speculative usage because it doesn’t do anything most people care about. Even being a cheaper PayPal/Venmo would be an improvement.