I think dismissing ape jpegs going for millions as a pyramid scheme or money laundering is totally valid, regardlesss of the technology behind it being sound or not.
The extent to which cryptocurrencies are used for illicit activity is exaggerated - according to Forbes, "in 2019, criminal activity represented 2.1% of all cryptocurrency transaction volume (roughly $21.4 billion worth of transfers). In 2020, the criminal share of all cryptocurrency activity fell to just 0.34% ($10.0 billion in transaction volume)."
As I have explained elsewhere, cryptocurrency isn't actually a great means to commit criminal activities, because every single transaction ever made is recorded on the respective Blockchains, with the unique public key of the sender and recipient published each time. I am not saying it doesn't still happen, but it's become much, much harder, especially because most legitimate exchanges demand ID before allowing a user to open a wallet.
Also, I don't really see how buying NFTs can be called a 'pyramid scheme'. A pyramid scheme is defined as "
a fraudulent system of making money based on recruiting an ever-increasing number of "investors."
Clearly, that's not what is happening here. A user creates an NFT once, and sells it, once. Regardless of whether you think the NFTs are worth what people are paying for them, it doesn't fit the description of a pyramid scheme. 'Bubble', maybe, and I am sure in the future, some of these NFTs that have sold for millions will be worthless...but that's not because of some kind of illicit or misleading activity