The credit-based financial gatekeeping system creates a tiered problem: those with poor credit scores get locked out of mainstream channels and forced toward predatory options like buy-now-pay-later schemes. Meanwhile, policy reforms keep getting designed around the existing framework—they patch surface issues without dismantling the underlying structure. The new financial ecosystem emerging in crypto space has already anticipated these regulatory moves and engineered workarounds. Traditional finance tinkering won't touch the core issue until decentralized alternatives truly replace intermediaries.