Now bitcoin is going to be accepted everywhere soon which will be the start of virtual currency which bankers waited for decades.
You have been used
Agree about miners being used. I wouldn't call early bitcoiners dumb. I believe they had the right intent, to be decentralized and free. Yet with all things, when there is a ton of $ to be made, expect control. Before, people from all over were mining their little share of BTC, now we have corps and data centers doing mining, selling rigs, controlling pools, pricing, news, etc.
Bitcoin use to be free, now kicking and screaming down the path to centralization.
Edit to add: Lauda posted this image in another thread. I believe it's an actual representation of what is happening to BTC
And I would include government puppet masters behind BitMain
The real enemy is AXA - Blockstream