As much as I despise his takes on Bitcoin and find him guilty of profiteering over perpetually catastrophizing, I think Jim Rickards lays out an interesting scenario in Road to Ruin, where he describes an economic freeze using an analogy from the novel Cat's Cradle where a substance called ice-nine, which freezes water at room temp, infects all other water on earth.

Anyways road to ruin is a good read or listen if you are interested. Otherwise you can probably find an interview where he lays the theory out.