I also think that the huge contribution for cryptocurrency not to be known is also the MLM scammers since in my country there are so many of them uses crypto as payment option and this schemes add band tint on the image of crypto that's why if they heard about it they will just ignore and think negative, I remember before that their is an article on forex trading about bitcoins and people tag it as scam since they though it's a ponzi scheme and for this we really need a clear picture on the real status of cryptocurrency so that it can help out spread and maybe by proper education we can see the word cryptocurrency on mainstream media.
Same here, which country are you from? I think the first time I remember seeing Bitcoin was in 2015 or maybe even earlier before I moved. I used to live in a big student area with a lot of noticeboards and everyone was promoting get rich schemes every year. Usually it was to do with gold or something networking MLM thing. Then Bitcoin began to appear as the mode of payment. So initially like all Ponzis it ran well, then when the owners ran off, everyone thought Bitcoin was a scammer currency.
I'm from Philippines and there's so many MLM scammers promoting their scam platform using the bitcoins payment option and history of it, and it's so sick to see those one since they are not really helping the bitcoins and cryptocurrency since they are the one who create a chaos for it's growth that's why it's really hard to find here a person who is knowledgeable about the real score of cryptocurrency and it's kinda funny since my friend still didn't believe that bitcoin is worthy and they always tells me that is scam.
I think it's a blight that's all over Southeast Asia, I'm extremely familiar with that scene, and I've been around since the late 1990s, so I remember how it used to look like in student campuses and nearby urban and commercial areas. Notice boards abound. People looking for work.
A lot of converging circumstances. Thousands of students yet to graduate, needing income and money to pay for fees, rent and books. Internet was just emerging then, and for thousands of new students fresh out of the village and into the city for the first time, MLMs and magic internet money and even the promise of $50 a week is a small fortune in their life...
And then the mainstream media, google, facebook all promoting bitcoin millionaires. Bitcoin.com rather than bitcoin.org still the first stop for most people learning about bitcoin (and bitcointalk is even not on page 1 of google)... It's tough to get real mainstream adoption when most people's first impression and knowledge of Bitcoin is fraudulent, false and misleading.