He is 94 years old, age can make someone not follow new technologies. He was very wrong.
He was a fair bit younger at the time but he did not understand the technology and had lots of other good investments so what he did was right for him. He won't be suffering.
Of course, all the asset stripping he did back in the day, not so good but that's another story.
Are you 100% certain the p2p issue cannot be fixed? I get the volatility has been a problem but it seems that it has decreased over time and might continue to decrease as more and more adoption happens. Fees and confirmation latency are the main issues currently as I understand it?
And whatever happened to the optimism for layer 2 solutions? Or atomic swaps between compatible blockchains? I do not mind swapping Bitcoin for Monero for all my microtransactional needs. Hell, I would even go for Litecoin. Even if that's just a work-around until we get a better solution.
Volatility is not really the issue. The unpredictability of transaction fees is, as you say. It's a shame because p2p really is the killer application for adoption and decoupling from financial markets.