No, by printing money, the government dilutes/devalues the money they already have. You still have 100 dollars. Theft would be that you have 98 dollars.
Converting dollars into something that isn't dollars, which doesn't get you as much of that something, is a different concept. It is the value of the dollar is lower.
> Cryptocurrency is protected from this by design.
Not really.
Today, bitcoin dilutes holders through inflation tied to securing the network. Eventually, that inflation will end, but not in some of our lifetimes. Ethereum was inflationary but is now deflationary thanks to burning of transaction fees and the switch to PoS. The tokenomics of all chains can be changed over time, even bitcoin. It requires a fork of the chain that everyone follows. When inflation for bitcoin ends, I could envision miners agreeing on a fork that better protects their interests.
