That banks and other incumbents will adopt a product or service from a corporation vs. an open protocol without a support structure, management and sales are part of the show.

Never underestimate the ability of bot armies to sway people with no discernment, many such cases.

Your general statement covers it well, whether it starts off as a profitable scam and a state-level actor gets in on it, or a state-level actor that knows what Bitcoin is (itself a state-level psyop) and runs ops like XRP / Ethereum to challenge it in their favor, or at least buy themselves time, is immaterial.

Wouldn't it be something if a country otherwise threatened by Bitcoin-Dollarization uses XRP to covertly accumulate Bitcoin in the absence of mining hardware or electricity infrastructure? Perfect for North Korea that can't keep the lights on, or Iran who got pwned by stuxnet?

Controlled opposition is a plausible tactic too, XRP may simply exist as rat poison or a strawman to make Bitcoin look good through contrasting anti-thesis.