Minitel was almost universal in France by '89. It might not be the WorldWideWeb, but it was around.
It had instant messaging, 24hr news, business listings, public databases (similar to wikis), online shopping, prostitution, dating services, online games, public transport ticketing, forums, online payment system, and over 25mil individual people using it on a daily basis.
Apart from the customers, it had all of that from _day one_.
Comparing the internet to crypto is like comparing roads to clown cars.
They are entirely different classes of technology and the second would be completely useless without the first, so like to like comparisons are meaningless.
It had instant messaging, 24hr news, business listings, public databases (similar to wikis), online shopping, prostitution, dating services, online games, public transport ticketing, forums, online payment system, and over 25mil individual people using it on a daily basis.
Apart from the customers, it had all of that from _day one_.