What's your take? Has crypto lost its way or is this evolution necessary?
First of all, I expect you to be specific here, you're talking about cryptocurrency in general and it involves altcoins which most are being centralized, but the focus here should be on bitcoin because it's decentralized.
Bitcoin is still on track and has been increasing in adoption over the years, it is evident in all aspects as you can see how institutions and government are now adopting bitcoin for reserve currency and ETFs, not to talk about how each individuals has been using it, which I see not a reason for it to be controlled being a decentralized currency, you can independently choose when to sell, buy and how much.
Nothing changed about bitcoin as it remains decentralized.