Not really. Lightning has been around for many years. Ethereum transitioned to Proof of Stake back in 2022. Layer 2s on Ethereum went live in 2021-2023, continuing on and ever expanding up until today.

I remember when a transaction cost $25 and 7 minutes

For Bitcoin mainnet, this may still be the case, however in practicality 1) that's still faster than tradfi settlement times (ACH takes 5-7 days to settle), 2) depending on the amount of money you're moving, $25 might be very cheap, 3) most people will use Lightning if they value speed and cheap fees. With Ethereum, block times are every 12 seconds or something like that. So actually it's not only fast but very consistent. Fees [on Ethereum] have been very cheap since blockspace demand has been muted the past couple years, however like Bitcoin most people prefer to use Layer 2s

In any case, that wasn’t practical for anyone except organised crime

that's just simply not true.

And the fact that crime is still a major user.

I've got news for you, tradfi ain't much better. Regardless, there's a large and growing list of use cases that don't involve "crime": https://ethereumadoption.com/built-on-ethereum?view=byEntity. Exchanges, lending and borrowing, mortgages, insurance, derivatives, pay day loans, no-loss lotteries, social media, collectables, identification, certifications, streaming salaries, ...