The world extends beyond the US. The Panama Papers showed that bearer bonds were alive and well all the way until the mid-2010s, and Panama itself only phased them out in 2015.

Which is why I think it's absurd to think it's a coincidence that the rise of crypto happened at the exact same time world financial task-forces snuffed out bearer bonds and offshore anonymous accounts.

I wonder what percentage of old companies are still owned by « bearer » shares.

At least investment/corporate bonds usually expire, so the bearer ones eventually wash out.