From OP's post;

> you could send a billion dollars to anyone in the world in a few seconds. That belief is powerful and I still ascribe to it.

I'm sorry, but that just seems idiotic. Ever heard about anti-money laundering or KYC?

It is not desirable to send a billion dollars internationally "to anyone" within seconds, and certainly not without checks and irreversible. The core idea was fundamentally unrealistic from the very start.