It sounds like the crypto owners went bankrupt, yeah.

To be fair, never have money in crypto if you want to see it ever again. I guess luckily it was just 6k. Could have been so much worse.

I wonder whether NewPipe could have gotten their funds out the moment the owners changed and gone somewhere not based on crypto.

Sad to hear that. NewPipe really is an amazing project from my perspective with plenty of great features. Just read they're planning a complete rebuilt using new technology. Really crossing my fingers they succeed and won't be blocked by the services (YouTube, Soundcloud etc.).