This is true in the case of chains that have vms built in, (Not bitcoin, Monero, meme shitcoins) but being “gas” for vms isn’t “inherent” to crypto.

On a kind unrelated note, are there any compelling dapps on eth that aren’t financial tools?

When I was playing around with web3 and dapps in 2020 it seemed like the only dapps around were banking protocols and gambling.