Crypto briefly rivaled arts and culture as a genuine youth phenomenon

Evidence

Yet, for a time, it stood as a true cultural phenomenon, rivaling music, film, and fashion in its influence. The crypto lifestyle found a transgressive energy in raw finance that rivaled art and culture, for which it received an exuberant “LFG” from a giant swath of youth. — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 742

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s stated counter-case: if Marx says the era lacks a distinct culture, crypto’s transgressive financial aesthetic is a candidate signature he may be misreading as blankness.
• QUESTION: Was crypto a genuine culture or just a status scramble wearing cultural clothes — does the collapse retroactively prove it was never real, or was it real while it lasted?