If you are comparing cryptocurrency exchanges with the real world transactions, stuff like this could have happened quite often in the old times. There is the story of the man working cast away for years with little connection with the rest of the world. After he comes back to a town he finds out that the king has changed, so all the notes and coins he has accepted as salary over the years are useless.

In reality, our banking system is much more chaotic than what the end-user sees it because central authorities are keeping the whole system together. and their authority is just what all of us believe in. Now, some people, for better or worse, started believing in something new.