Sure the art market (c. $70bn world wide, ie., tiny) is also controlled by a tiny number of players, and the high-end is ran largely as a tax (or, and) money-laundering scam.

It seems no co-incidence that crypto people running their Ponzi scheme tried to hijack the art market.

However art pieces themselves have an "open, efficient, equilibrium" market price, in that, people actually want to own art to enjoy it. If the art market were broken up, and all the tax incentives ended, and all buyers forced to use public pricing -- then we'd see prices plummet... but not all the way, some pieces would still fetch millions.

I think crypto is a pure scam, more radical than art and more radical than MLM cosmetics -- you're not holding anything of value absent fools. There are no people who "want to enjoy their coins", there are only fools. Ie., people who want to pass-the-items-on after rent-seeking (ie., holding it until the fools pile up).