In this dystopian sci-fi scenario, which no longer feels like far-off speculation, a handful of global superpowers has succeeded in buying up the top cryptocurrencies, effectively cornering the mining ecosystem. Private citizens are banned from mining, as national regulations authorize only state-licensed megacorporations to operate under contracts that grant governments pre-emptive purchase rights on all newly minted coins. As a result, the entire crypto supply flows straight into public-sector reserves, transforming the market into something resembling central bank monetary operations rather than the decentralized, permissionless networks they were originally designed to be.
Price action no longer reflects organic supply-and-demand dynamics; instead, it mimics the predictable rhythm of macroeconomic steering tools such as central bank rate adjustments or quantitative easing (QE). With states acting as de facto market makers, volatility collapses, and flagship cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin take on the role of synthetic sovereign bonds or digital equivalents of stablecoins. There are no centralized exchanges (CEXs), no decentralized exchanges (DEXs), and no swap mechanisms; even on the dark web, there is no escape. AI-driven forensic surveillance, using advanced deep packet inspection and quantum computing-level deanonymization, monitors every corner of the network stack. An AI regulatory apparatus flags, traces, and neutralizes illicit traffic in real time, circumventing human oversight and rendering the system “legally acceptable” by technicality: societies have already normalized machine monitoring as long as it is automated and detached from direct human involvement.
Cryptocurrencies, once symbols of individual financial sovereignty, have been reduced to dull investment vehicles, accessible only through custodial wallets linked to national CBDC platforms, meaning state-issued digital currencies that are fully centralized and controlled by central banks, and yielding only modest returns over multi-year lockups. Retail speculation has been crushed; the only legitimate routes are through official rails operated by central banks, where liquidity is tightly controlled and slippage is eliminated by design. The entire tokenomics landscape has been deliberately engineered: governments, having secured majority holdings or exerted regulatory chokeholds over miners, validators, and liquidity pools, effectively dictate price floors and ceilings. Wild crypto, referring to the unregulated, permissionless chains that still manage to survive at the protocol level, finds itself crushed under the weight of infrastructural suppression. Without liquidity, exchange listings, or usable off-ramps, their on-chain activity collapses into a self-referential, economically meaningless loop.
The media plays its part with surgical precision. Paid influencers, think tanks, high-production explainer videos, and editorial campaigns flood the discourse with narratives centered on transparency, ESG compliance, anti-money laundering, green energy alignment, and financial inclusion. The public is sold the story that crypto has “grown up,” no longer a speculative Wild West, but a mature, legal, sustainable asset class aligned with social responsibility goals. Privacy coins are demonized; non-custodial wallets are criminalized; KYC is framed not just as a legal necessity, but as a moral duty.
Perhaps the darkest twist is that the majority welcomes this transformation. As with mandatory banking, automated tax reporting, and universal digital IDs, most people prefer the convenience and perceived security of regulated systems over the abstract promises of decentralization. The few who refuse, those who experiment with air-gapped cold storage, mesh networks, or esoteric, anonymized peer-to-peer setups, are forced into increasingly marginal, precarious zones, classified alongside money launderers, cybercriminals, or even domestic extremists.
Claus Schwab would likely snap his fingers in satisfaction; so would the IMF, the Bank for International Settlements, the G7 central banks, regional regulators, and the technocratic elite that has long aimed to transform money, all money, into programmable, surveilled infrastructure. Crypto, once envisioned as an escape hatch from the global financial order, has been folded neatly back into the apparatus, no longer a symbol of liberation, but an instrument of post-liberal economic governance.