We all using paper money now but a time will come when we could not have to pay for goods and services using paper money, everything will be digital throughout and the bank it's do not have the power to ignore cryptocurrency payment system which is going to be a norm with time.
We have already seen big institutions, banks and government investing and also utilizing cryptocurrency as a payment system. The government is already spending too much money for printing of paper money just for them to be in circulation and the idea of crypto payment system will ease unnecessary expenses in due time. This is fiance revolution that is already in place and will soon dominate every region in due time.
It should be noted, the idea of a world without paper money has been around for decades, credit cards and online banking existed before crypto came along. And the idea of not using paper money became even stronger with the advent of smartphones. So the digital world would still happen even without crypto but the advent of bitcoin/crypto has accelerated this process.
Crypto have been in the spotlight for the past decade but have primarily been used as a speculative, get-rich-quick asset. It is only truly considered potential and can become a future financial solution when it is recognized by the government. So instead of saying that banks need to adopt crypto to survive, it can be said that its future has become brighter thanks to government and banking recognition. Because if they don't admit it, it's just a speculative market for gamblers.
Banking and crypto will be the perfect combination towards a fully digital world, they cooperate and complement each other, no one depends on anyone.
Banks have always adapted. They survived credit cards, ATMs, the dot-com boom, and even the rise of mobile wallets by absorbing, co-opting, and sometimes just buying out whatever threatened them. It’s less about extinction and more about mutation.
But there’s something people ignore: banks are way more than money warehouses. They’re relationship engines, trust brokers, infrastructure layers for the boring stuff (mortgages, compliance, interbank settlements). Crypto doesn’t want that job. Most people don’t even want that job; it’s too much friction for the average user, and most don’t want to become their own bank and risk a wrong click wiping out a life’s savings.
I agree with you that crypto mostly lived as a speculative, but if banks don’t adapt, they don’t die. They just turn into utilities, like telecoms, doing the invisible labor while new platforms grab the spotlight. We should all be wonder: "Who gets to set the rules for what counts as money and what counts as trust?” That’s always been the real game, and it’s never just about technology. It’s about narrative control and who we choose to believe. And most people will pick convenience over revolution every single time.