The original mythology of crypto is colliding with the political realities of money, debt, and state power.

In 2008, traders stood outside Lehman Brothers watching employees carry cardboard boxes out of the building while global markets unraveled in real time. The collapse happened faster than most people thought possible. One week earlier, the system still looked stable from the outside. Money moved normally. Credit markets functioned. Television analysts talked about temporary stress.

Then confidence vanished.

What followed was not simply a banking crisis. It was a psychological rupture. Governments printed trillions to stop the financial system from imploding, central banks flooded markets with liquidity, and an entire generation…