...so I take the red pill and discover that shiny metal is just rock no more valuable then a piece of code or a piece of paper and that the only things that have value are those with real utility and those that people choose to assign value. I can see that we have to assign value to something so that we can easily exchange wealth and store that value. I realise that at its core our monetary system is still only one step beyond a barter system, but our clay tablets and cowrie shells are now paper money. As the pills effect grows stronger, I see that what I think of as paper money sitting in a bank vault, has long ago become code in a big accounting system. I can see that the pile represented by the code keeps growing but my share of it becomes ever less. I can also see why I accept this; the government is behind it, and with all its failings, I can see the elected government with its wealth and power is the best bet to a) protect the value of the code and b) control the banks. Crypto emerges it is just another code but the amount of it is limited and no-one is in control. This is attractive. But I have taken the red pill, and I can see the government provides the services that society needs and it has to fund itself and to do so it must be in control of the tax and monetary system. This control is not something they will let go. But the people (particularly the younger generations) want cryto and it is given to them. Paper money is dead and yet this crypto is a government controlled system and it does not contain the benefits listed on the can. The people have taken the blue pill so they are happy. Another liberty has been taken away, cash is gone and extra data on earnings, spending, social security and so many other aspects of our daily lives is now in the hands of the government. Satoshi Nakamoto (who has also taken the red pill) palms his face, he was trying to do the opposite.
To end the story. Some other cryptocurrencies not backed by the government continue to exist but these activities are illegal as are the large coin mining operations which have now been shut down. Gold and Silver? Sorry I'll need to continue this bedtime story later.