We all agree that there will be crashes and volatility, and many crypto-currencies will simply die. Still one or a few will survive, innovate and become mainstream.
This bubble is more or less coded in the Protocol. To make it possible to make it mainstream and to adopt it by as many Miners as possible it has an build-in deflation property as incentive.
if this gains enmasse and bank profits and western union profits gets hurt, you dont think the entrenched oligopolies will lobby? as I said, money laundering is basically the only real function bitcoin has at the moment. there is only one other thing that can help bitcoin from going to 0. a government explicitly sanctioning a it as official. if you hold for long term either you are gambling to be able to sell to a greater fool, or gambling on a explicit legalisation of bitcoin. Does that seem likely?
Sure, they are scarred as hell. And already feel the heat (just watch what their stock-price is doing latterly). They cannot stop this decentralized world-wide phenom. Only good thing would be to Join it (which I guess they will do). Where do you have your information from? You only have the perception it is used for this, but even in last weeks Senate's hearing it was clear that only a very small part of Bitcoins economy is used for bad things (just like in any currency, but especially USD).
Both can be copied so what's your point? And sure some might survive, but if stabilizes at $5 a coin, and today it is 1150, what does it tell us?
Do you think facebook could be copied? No? Why not...maybe bitcoin has.that much of a.headstart...just saying. I have mo idea.
The one that survive will stabilize on much and much higher price than 1150 from today. -If it takes over, just 1% of Gold-market, it will be 7000 dollar -if it takes over, just 1% of the Creditcard-industry, it will be 1700 dollar -If it takes over, just 10% of the Remittance-market (WesternUnion), it will be 4300 dollar These percentage are just low guestimates. And you can sum those values, as the crypto-currency that survives will handle all those markets together (plus some more which I forgot to mention).