...given the nature of money management rampant in the crypto world, its rather justified to ask returns at par with junk bonds.
Clearly -- but even more so. IMHO, would-be investors in the Bitcoin space expect completely unrealistic levels of return from real businesses and real investments, yet fail to demand sufficiently high levels of return in exchange for funding junk debt. This ongoing failure to differentiate between clearly different risk profiles all but guarantees that the market will continue to be flooded with garbage. High-quality investments won't make it to market because investors unrealistically expect them to deliver junk-style returns, while those peddling actual junk are banging on the doors of any exchange or any individual creditor who will have them, because in risk-adjusted terms, most Bitcoin "investors" are giving away free money.