> this is why crypto never took off as a replacement for credit cards

If this were true you would expect crypto to have taken off in countries with low interchange rates. Europe, for example, has far less of a rewards and points culture for payment, and (compared to the US) much lower interchange.

Crypto never took off as a replacement for credit cards for many reasons - the biggest coins out there are simply too volatile to be usable as a currency, they lack the consumer protections you get paying with a credit card, and they’re simply too complex for an average person to understand.