Now, to be fair to the bitcoin bros (not great) and XRP army (worse), even the World Health Organisation had around that time started pushing the idea that Covid could be being spread by banknotes (while simultaneously recommending that people should not wear masks), now thought to be “very unlikely”. Even if banknotes were a key transmission vector, however, we are not sure that “dirty fiat” itself could be held responsible, given that the vast majority of it only exists in digital form. Why would you use bitcoin, or XRP, or any other crypto token when you can transact digitally using fiat currencies?
Meanwhile, even the most enthusiastic bitcoin evangelists are realizing that a retooling is in order. Michael J. Casey, a senior adviser for blockchain research at MIT’s Digital Currency Initiative, recently wrote about how the crypto-winter has arrived, but it may lead to better things down the line:

When that’s the case and demand increases, the price of that underlying asset goes up. Roughly speaking, this is the simplest way to address how the prices of cryptos fluctuate.
While this is a critical security feature that reduces theft and unauthorized use, it’s also draconian. Losing your private key is the digital asset equivalent of throwing a wad of cash into a trash incinerator.