I think it's relevant because if there was more authoritarian control and govs decided to restrict crypto online, it's not hard for them to shut down any centralized web services like BitPay and Shapeshift or the bulk of most cryptocurrency ecosystems. But an HTTP API powered by a P2P network means there's no single point you can turn off and it's on 24/7 and accessible from any device.  No disrespect meant to those projects, BitPay especially have created some awesome tech like Bitcore which we are using in DAPI.