Money is simply a tool used to facilitate the transfer of goods/services among people. You can use cryptocurrencies just as well or you can use direct barter but a common-use currency provides benefits that people enjoy.
I would say still thinking too narrowly, some interesting science fictions novels had knowledge as a form of currency in some technocratic societies (The Omar ~> Deus Ex Invisible War)
Not saying this is the best solution but again different form of “currency / money.”
Imagine you are a human who is part of a hive mind, (think Deus Ex Helios AI) you wouldn’t have a need for money.
Money is just "the relative value of things and services". Whatever system put in place to measure relative value will be gameable, and will also have many legitimate winners whose win lots of people don't understand.
No, the relative value of stuff is independent of money, certainly of any one currency.
Money facilitates exchange. Adam Smith argues this has primacy: "The sole use of money is to circulate consumable goods." Wealth of Nations.
Other authors argue for characteristics. William Stanley Jevons properties aren't bulletproof in my view, but are a good departure point: utility and value, portability, indestructability, homogeneity, divisibility, stability of value, and cognisability.