There are plenty of good answers addressing the reality that gaming doesn't use anywhere near the same aggregate energy as mining, but to me, the more important difference is that currency of some kind is critical infrastructure. Civilization collapses without it. Right now, civilization won't collapse without cryptocurrency because we can just continue using government-issued currency, but in the crypto endgame where it is actually supposed to replace government-issued legal tender, we've suddenly become reliant on a tremendously inefficient power grid hog. Imagine something like what just happened in Texas happens on a larger scale. Well, now not only do you not have lights at night, but you can't spend money either.
The basic fabric of society is much less reliant on the ability of citizens to play digital games, so losing that ability wouldn't matter much.
Running with the Nascar/Formula One analogy, those things aren't such a huge deal because they're niche applications of vehicle technology. It would be far more disastrous for society at large, on the other hand, if we decided to make all commuter vehicles get 2 MPG and require high octane fuel and new tires every two hours.
Similarly, cryptocurrency is (relatively) harmless right now because it is a niche speculative commodity. It would be a global disaster if it ever became widely used as actual currency. Cryptocurrencies are like castles, gaudy but interesting spectacles when only a few lords build them, but the world would quickly run out of rocks if we made them the universal unit of housing.