These articles are mostly promoting bitcoin as a viable currency for people in desperate situations, and yes, possibly, if you are in an extreme situation like being extorted by someone with ransomware, or in a place where your government is falling apart or targeting you as a criminal, you might have some reason to use cryptocurrency in this way. But since it does such a terrible job as a currency (extremely inefficient, slow, and irreversible transactions, price volatility, no intrinsic value, etc) it should really always be a choice of last resort.