I'm not sure either of those things are true.

While in some sense anybody can set up a PGP instance, existing cryptocurrencies turn out to be pretty easy to control if you have the resources of a state behind you. NSA has facilities that could outmine the whole "decentralized" BTC environment a dozen times over, all they need to do is choose to do it.

And poker has managed to survive pretty well underground, it just doesn't grow. The problem hasn't been so much the government controlling the money movers as controlling the marketing outlets.

There have been lots of attempts at crypto-based poker. It turns out you need someone competent, trustworthy, and not afraid of the machine, which is a pretty rare combination.