If you think that debit cards are a step forward then you are sadly mistaken. One cannot be anonymous and still comply with AML/KYC. It's an oxymoron.
Agreed. But it in that case it isn't the crypto that non-anonymous, it's your debit card account.
The way for crypto to lose its "anonymity" would be for it to become a bookkeeping system in which the addresses represented "accounts" that were backed by a trusted party (i.e. the account holder). Then you can no longer benefit from transparent blockchains either because you need an obscured blockchain to protect privacy, at which case you've come full circle back to bank accounts.
The entire idea behind Bitcoin was to eliminate the need for financial institutions.
I think you've slightly misunderstood this statement. It eliminates the need for financial institutions
participating in a bitcoin transaction. It doesn't eliminate the need for them anywhere else.
What this does "open the door" to is unnecessary regulation of cryptocurrencies.
LoL. That door was never closed.