My take is: This is what some people (particularly in those groups) want them to be, so that they can continue to parlay wealth into exclusive access to all kin

My take is: This is what some people (particularly in those groups) want them to be, so that they can continue to parlay wealth into exclusive access to all kinds of things even in a digital world where all scarcity is artificial. However, as sibling comments note, they're actually very bad at it, because despite all the ballyhoo about decentralization, making that kind of thing work requires cooperation from centralized authorities.