Good article, @aggroed.
I wrote on a similar theme in part of an article introducing Twitter to Zappl (and STEEM and the blockchain). My contention is that value is supported and generated by trust. And in this way, cryptos are no different from fiat.
A couple of other thoughts from your article... Alternative currencies are definitely not new and are in fact commonly adopted after economic calamities (like the GFC, where a large number of local alternative currencies emerged). Crypto is just a more technologically advanced form of thousands of other alternative currencies that have come before.
I like your analogy to stocks and currency in combination.
Regarding inflation/deflation, keep in mind that despite the massive expansion of monetary supply in the western world, we still struggle to maintain a necessary amount of inflation to drive investment and repay (yeah right ;) ) money created as debt. One of the primary reasons for this is something known as 'technological deflation'. Essentially, technology just gets cheaper and cheaper in time. This can be best seen in the abstract by the huge decoupling of wages with productivity over the last 30-40 years. Supply has increased massively while natural (by this I mean non-debt fuelled) demand has not changed that much.
Oh, and I just wrote a post about an hour ago about my fears for the future of crypto. I'd love to hear your thoughts if you've got time to check it out. I won't post it here to further spam your thread. ;) It can of course be found at my blog.
Cheers mate!