An analogy for cryptocurrency that I like is lasers. I remember reading an Usborne book about lasers as a kid and thinking they were the coolest thing ever and would doubtless find their way into every technology because glowing beams of pure light energy, how could they not transform the world!

Lasers turn out to be useful for... eye surgery, and pointing at things, and reading bits off plastic discs, and probably a handful of other niche things. There just aren't that many places where what they can do is actually needed, or better than other more pedestrian ways of accomplishing the same thing. I think the same is true of crypto, including NFTs.

In 1982 I joined Leeds university as a computer operator/assistant. First job out of a CS degree in another uni. The department head was a laser physics specialist and I, and other snobs used to say "what does a laser man know about REAL computer science" and act outraged.

More fool us. More power to him. He was well ahead of the curve, him and his laser physics friends worldwide.