I agree that it is an eternal struggle.  And I also agree with Ben that Bitcoin proved that it could be possible and paved the way for wider use cases. 

But the technology itself, I'm afraid, may not be enough, because centralized power structures will not go down easily. You can already see it with the coming force of regulation.  While I agree that the regulators have a point that some people are getting scammed (or should I say 'letting themselves get scammed', since most scams are pretty obvious), and that it's important to enforce certain regulations to help prevent theft and fraud, I believe that the approach, for instance, of "Every Token is a Security" looks very much to me like a thin veneer over the dark purpose of once again consolidating power.  I say this because with that approach, you greatly reduce the number of people "qualified" to participate and support projects that seek to disrupt.  In this model, only those with a lot of money will be allowed to support and participate. Granted, you get some level of distribution and decentralization, but it's limited to people who have made over $200,000 per year for the last three years, or some such thing.

I believe that there needs to be political activism in addition to blockchain technology to push back against over-regulation. If the SEC and others are going to force every crypto project down the path of filing Reg-this and Reg-that, then they need to create a system that is more egalitarian, and support the filing process so it doesn't take a half a million dollars to file with the regulators.

It can also start at a more grassroots level, and without overt political activism.  It can be economic activism, as it were.  For instance, for those of us who have small businesses, we can support this movement right now by accepting one or more forms of crypto-currency for the goods and services that we provide. Bitcoin is probably the easiest, but as we all know there are some issues.  There's no reason why it couldn't be any altcoin you find easy to use and convert. 

Again, we will soon see the struggle of this, as regulators seek to shut down every exchange and put pressure on banks to sever that link between Fiat and Crypto.  And tax authorities will aggressively pursue taxation.   But as a business owner, it's worth it to me to put up with this struggle and accept the tokens - and thereby support projects that way.  When I once again enter the consulting market later on this year, I'll be sure to accept a wide range of crypto for my services.  I'll deal with the issues on the back end one way or another - even if it costs me a little money, it will be worth it to support the cause. I encourage everyone else to do the same.