Why would Visa, Mastercard and others agree to participate if they believed it was doomed in this way? I do not think it was nearly so obvious as you suggest. The way rules agencies had treated crypto so far looked accommodating.
These wonks then make all the right favorable noises when queried by the FBs and VISAs of the world about the posture of the agencies, organizations, departments and NGOs they work for regarding crypto. As there's little to no in-group tolerance for critical introspection, there's correspondingly little to no collective power of seeing how this all looks from the outside.
It's a tight mutual feedback loop, twisted into hysteresis because everyone except the general public stands to gain from telling each other that the regulatory coast is clear.
1. Like someone said above, know your enemy.
2. In the 0.1% offchance that it took off they really don’t want to be left out.