Would it be fair enough to assume that the project has failed, or failing?
90% of Bitcoin being held by an oligarchy of the elite, a cartel of banks, and by governments working together might turn Bitcoin into their "playground".
Where you got info that 90% of being held by an oligarchy of the elite?
It's not true.
Bitcoin is serious coin and serious business + mining.
"playground" can't exist in any case.
It is a hypothetical scenario, and whether Bitcoin has failed if that were to happen, is up for debate. I believe in a sense, it would fail as an open system because Bitcoin would effectively cease to become permissionless.