But, it's not the type of cryptocracy you are proposing. We see the current titular rulers and hear their words, but we do not see who and what moves them.
When the US lost the Cold War, what remained of free enterprise was supplanted by state capitalism.
It's difficult to test this hypothesis, but we can observe that those who hold power do not fear the people. They pursue their own agenda that only tangentially reflects the will of the people. The parties in power and their ostensible opposition agree broadly on policy. What would be true opposition has been marginalized into "far right" and "extreme left" factions.
what if i told you that all leader agenda's can be selfish.. but advertised as the will of the people just by saying the words "its the will of the people to want...."
EG
block size debate
"its the will of the people to want less bloat, not more"
"its the will of the people to want more capacity not less"
both of which people believe to be true, but both are contradictory, and so the leader(chief core dev) can choose whatever selfish agenda they want because... "its the will of the people" so whatever path they take must be accepted