Intrinsic value is a store. A currency with intrinsic value is useful when the counter parties are not trusted, but as a pure medium, it inhibits flow. As such, it's a trust vehicle, a contract.

Remember that when societies were very small, economics was function of survival of the group organism, so value added was shared around the organism, like food brought into the body is shared around the body, using blood as a medium.

As society grew and economic networks expanded beyond the ability to mentally keep track of assets and debits and who was useful and what for and who and what was wasteful and needed to be eliminated, than scores had to be kept and systems of accounting evolved.

The Assyrians had clay tablets as receipts for grain stored in the communal granary, which would be traded around. So these were contracts for the grain, like a gold based currency is a contract for the gold.

Various other systems evolved. Michael hudson has done a lot of work on this.

here is a good interview, from several years ago;

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2019/04/the-delphic-oracle-was-their-davos-a-four-part-interview-with-michael-hudson-about-his-forthcoming-book-the-collapse-of-antiquity-part-1.html

I certainly wouldn't knock cryptocurrencies, but like the computer age in general, think we are still in a fairly early stage and think it will take a generation or two to really settle out.