I just got to that part. Did the book say it failed? I thought it was more ambiguous than that. Anyway, for a novel written before 2016, it was an interesting footnote. No work of fiction I’ve read or seen has ever gotten it right.
They mentioned it once and give it failed. I was really hoping Shriver included it more in her book.
Discussion
They didn't talk a out it but once. I'm assuming it failed otherwise it would have been a main subject in the plot.
Correct. The author wrote it out of existence with a one-liner:
“The dollar is a historied currency that’s stabilized the international economy for over a century, Wilbur. The bancor is an upstart pretender whose constraints are unworkably strict. We just have to hold our nerve. After all—look at what happened to bitcoin.”
IMO, Shriver had to write #Bitcoin out of existence to tell the story she was creating. The story with Bitcoin would have been quite different.