I believe you are mistaken. Shared-data and shared-compute services of the type provided by blockchain networks such as Ethereum can only be paid for by the native token of that network. There is not a known way to provide these services without users paying for them using the native token. Thus, if those services have value, then the tokens that must be purchased to pay for them must also have value.

In this way, native crypto tokens like Eth are similar to petroleum, in that their value is commensurate with the value of the work that can be performed by consuming them.

Sure, competition between networks can have an impact on price, just like competition from electric vehicles can impact the price of oil. But competition does not itself destroy value, even if it has an impact on demand, and therefore on price.

The article itself talks about the difference between value and price. The price of crypto might be inflated by the hype surrounding it, but that does not mean that is has no underlying value, as you seem to assert.