Are there actual PoS systems in the wild that don’t pretty directly tie themselves to PoW systems?
In my mind, the people who make this pitch that we shouldn’t blame crypto, we should blame proof-of-work sound a lot like Elon telling me that Tesla will be Level 5 any day now. Yea, it would rock if we could suddenly have the perfect thing, but I don’t see any evidence that PoW is actually being replaced by PoS for real world transactions.
If you're genuinely asking this question, it really depends on what you mean by "tied to PoW systems".
Currently the three largest PoS networks that I know of are Polkadot/Kusama, Harmony and Fantom. They are functional insofar as being EVM compatible. Theoretically anything running on ETH could be ran on these networks.
Stellar Lumens is an example of something which does not use PoW, it uses FBA which is considered much more efficient than PoW (and possibly certain PoS systems too).
Certainly, almost all crypto assets right now are tied to PoW systems in that their value is somewhat propped up by a general interest in crypto, of which the large majority (in terms of market cap) is currently Proof-of-Work based (BTC, ETH, LTC, BCH, DOGE, XMR, etc.)
I suspect we will see a natural shift towards PoS alternatives as they are much cheaper to run and entry into these other markets is cost prohibitive.
We should also see a huge shift in value if/when ETH2 is released (which some estimate could still be several years away).
The elephant in the room will be BTC. It remains to be seen if people will still consider BTC to be a store of value in the crypto world, akin to gold bullion in traditional markets. Certainly many people holding it would like you to think so.
In my mind, the people who make this pitch that we shouldn’t blame crypto, we should blame proof-of-work sound a lot like Elon telling me that Tesla will be Level 5 any day now. Yea, it would rock if we could suddenly have the perfect thing, but I don’t see any evidence that PoW is actually being replaced by PoS for real world transactions.