I would strongly disagree with that characterization. The bank note system - the major form of private money - worked reasonably well for centuries in Europe, evolving into the check clearing systems that virtually every first-world nation has today.
That was much later on. I am talking about basically end of Roman Empire to 1600.
Yep, and we had it in the U.S. as well before the advent of the Constitution. Similarly a disaster.
It wasn't too different from the recent ICO stuff. Except that it was mainstream.