This thread kind of reminds me of
another thread that was posted a while back. In it, the OP expressed his concern that a future where Bitcoin succeeds might actually be rather bleak. I can't say that I agree with his views but it's an interesting (although rather long) read.
I think the definition for success is variable. For many bitcoins success means it becoming it's own stabilized currency not being pegged to another external fiat value. I would love to see bitcoin succeed but I don't think I am ready for something this drastic.
Bitcoin isn't pegged to the US dollar. It is traded against the dollar but then again, most, if not all, currencies today are traded against the dollar and other currencies too. What differentiates BTC from USD or GBP is that it isn't its own unit of account since we don't actually price things in BTC. Unfortunately, Bitcoin's price volatility means that we'll probably be pricing BTC in USD for a very long time.
Why would we be scared it will suceed? We should be scared that it wont and I think progress is severely going to be hampered by the reluctance of the general public to adopt it. I believe its use as a currency will grow over time but very slowly. And what do you mean by "setting up more "failed companies"". I think most bitcoin based companies don't get set up to fail unless they're a scam or something.
The success rate of companies involved in the Bitcoin industry isn't pretty. In addition to Mt. Gox, most Bitcoin and general crypto services that are more than a few years old have failed. Think of MyBitcoin, inputs.io, Bitcoinica, Bitfloor, etc. Some were scams, some were hacked, and others were shut down.
Not that bothered about vc's but I suppose they are a necessary evil for bitcoin's adoption.
I'm sure btc will succeed, whether or not it replaces $$$ is anybody's guess. One thing's for certain, the powers-that-be aren't going to give up their fiat system without a fight.
I was always surprised at how friendly the US and other governments of the world were, and still are, to Bitcoin. The government absolutely hated E-Gold which, like Bitcoin, was a payment system that positioned itself as being "electronic gold".
As far as I'm concerned every day the bitcoin network is online bitcoin has succeeded.
The Bitcoin network did encounter some significant problems early on though. Fortunately, whenever an issue appeared, it was quickly fixed after being discovered:
in certain sense you are right.
if Bitcoin succeeds some good things will disappear, like the relative anonymity and some easy ways of making money
Even if Bitcoin's market cap reaches hundreds of billions of dollars, people will still have the choice of mixing their coins or using Dark Wallet.