After predicting the DRK price implosion just weeks ago (https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.8073765), I have another prediction to make. I take no pleasure in saying this but I hope that those who didn't take my advice before will listen this time and save themselves some money. DRK will never again approach its previous price. The reason is that it does not provide an attractive practical solution for those who seek anonymity (relative to BTC used in conjunction with mixers). Even if it does function perfectly on a technical level, the fact remains that moving BTC into DRK generally requires dealing with an exchange that will be forced to compromise privacy as the result of increased regulations. And once you have your DRK, where are you going to spend it? There is no DRK ecosystem to speak of. BTC has hundreds of millions being invested into an infrastructure to stimulate mass adoption. If you truly wanted to be anonymous, wouldn't you want to be lost in the crowd along with regular consumers as opposed to being potentially linked to a currency inadvertently branded as the go-to solution for drug dealers, paedophiles, and tax-dodgers? In front of a jury, what's more incriminating: evidence that you had a BTC wallet on your computer like everybody else including your aunt Bertha...or that you had a sinisterly-named DarkCoin Wallet on there? I would short DRK if I knew how but I have zero skin in the game. Save yourself some serious grief and at the very least don't dump more of your hard-earned money into this.
Your concerns are certainly not without merit. I won't address your price prediction as illiquid crypto markets don't operate on LT outlook, but on short term hype and despair cycles almost solely controlled by large holders.
As to the rest of your remarks, I can only caution that none of us can be certain how all of this will turn out. Your post is very similar to those made about bitcoin itself only a year ago, and those criticisms still apply for the vast majority of people outside the BTC bubble.
With regard to converting between coins, I expect functional decentralized exchanges to minimize the need to rely on regulated, centralized entities. There are more than a few already close to offering real world utility.
Everything going on now is experimental and speculative, and to be sure, most projects will completely fail. This game certainly isn’t for the faint of heart, and no one should bet the farm on any one outcome, but there continues to be an incredible amount of money to be made while all of this plays out. I personally believe DRK still has a role to play, but to each his own.
I'll concede to your point about the emergence of decentralized unregulated exchanges. At the same time however, decentralized anonymous BTC mixers can't be far behind.
How do you propose they go about doing this? What incentive would there be to running a mixer? How do you know there's not collusion between the several (or however many) that are running? There's no barrier to entry, but no incentive either, meaning it wouldn't be much of a stretch to imagine the nodes being controlled by people who have an interest in de-anonymizing you.
Let's focus on decentralized BTC/DRK exchanges that are mutually beneficial to both coins.
but its so quiet in here at the moment, its almost relaxed... great sideeffect ;(
....so lets see if this is the floor. 
