I just realised that the famous ghost buildings in China are literally an IRL analogue to proof-of-work cryptocurrency. People buy the apartments knowing they don't have any practical use, only as a vessel to preserve savings to one day sell to someone else buying them for the same purpose, and their supply is limited by literal work and materials.

They've implemented the most inefficient form of currency known to man, and they don't even have any of the benefits crypto provides.