Thats exactly what i thought of then they said in news a few weeks ago 2,500,000,000 Dollars had been 'destroyed' due to the stock crash.
According to every dollar is backed up by some real material things, i wondered where all those container ships sunk within a few days. Anyone checked Bermuda triangle, maybe they find them and the stocks will raise up to old value within days
According to acceptance of bitcoins in future. I think a lot of it will depend on smartphone 'Apps'. Just think of how many people today use a smartphone on daily purpose and how many people pay things with their mobile phones.
If there will be apps allowing the people to easy access their wallet and pay from it wherever they are, i think this whole idea can become a success.
Just think of all the memo books that dissapeared from peoples pockets and became one with their mobile phone. So next step could be making the classic purse dissapear from ones pocket.
And for those now fearing "if my mobile phone gets stolen, then all my money is gone": what happens when your purse gets stolen? You carry all your money in it? So where is the problem to have the majority of your bitcoins in a somewhere secured wallet, and those you expect to use within next maybe days in another wallet, stored on your smartphone.
bevor i get to long now, my point was meant to be:
Success or failure of bitcoin will be strongly connected with well written and distributed APPs which use bitcoins.