The argument they are making is that they can leverage data about a company to determine how it should be invested in and what steps need to be taken to ensure success. This will supposedly be scalable and reach areas where venture capital is not available. Reminds me of Accelerando.
One of the reasons Doge was successful was because it was, at its heart a meme, and something fun. Bitcoin is sort of a meme too but it seems to keep recreating itself. New 'Bitcoin Myths' keep popping up of why it should be valuable.
Bitcoin will make micro-transactions on the internet feasible.
Bitcoin will upend tyrannical governments.
Bitcoin will be adopted by countries with hyperinflation.
Bitcoin is a hedge against financial collapse.
It feels almost like a Robin Hood situation. Where the big players get in late and take the other side of the orders of the early adopters. Essentially transferring their millions to the early adopters.
I think the TCP/IP analogy is fuzzy at best. As for why these projects need their own currencies, it's not really that weird, it's just another way of thinking about it all.
They're called Local Currencies and are pretty common. They definitely help to create strongly knit communities in particular when the communities revolve around certain ideals or requirement. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_currency