it wasn't so much the free market model that was the problem---it was essentially two conflicting versions of the free market model clashing to create an economic bubble between fiat and crypto, which had to be popped.

a LOT of billionaires, millionaires, and influencer adjacents took a massive gut punch if their businesses were somehow related to crypto markets. might have been the years of drugs and delusions, but it took a couple years for everyone to sober up and recognize that the previous iteration of crypto markets were actually bad for EVERYONE.