Of course, the world has not yet seen a blockchain that has been battle-tested, that does not reward the maintainers in a native token. So there's that. What's the incentive?
Unless someone solves this problem in the realm of game theory, it is impossible. This is one of the absolute foundational pillars for the stability of bitcoin the removal of which would create a sort of 2 legged stool.
I'm curious as to how all of this is going to play out in the short-medium term.
Some questions I've been asking myself:
Will there be a mass realization that blockchain without bitcoin is just a slow, shitty database?
Sure the value of the bitcoin blockchain, versus other blockchains, remains the proof of work. The subject matter seems complicated enough, even for smart people and even for those studying the space for a long time that the disinformation and myths are going to continue for at least a few generations, so it seems... people are not really very rational and smart, and that remains part of the reason why religion is so prevalent, and even very smart peeps, and even scientists will retain some religious compartmentalization in their viewpoints.
How long will this realization take?
There will always be some disinformation, but whether a majority becomes enlightened, that may take a really long time.
When/if this realization takes place, will it fuel Bitcoin's moonshot?
You know, as well as anyone, that BTC remains at less than 1% of world adoption, so we will likely have several boom and bust cycles in terms of BTC price before folks start to have some understandings about what bitcoin is.
Alternatively, will people become disenchanted with "blockchain" altogether, and throw the baby (bitcoin) out with the bathwater?
There could be some disenchantment cycles. I would not put it past some influential governments to have some level of diversion and disinformation attempts that play out quasi-successfully before they finally give up, which also could take a large number of years to play out.
Will this kill off most alts?
It is likely going to take a while for the alts to die, too. Alts seem likely to be used by some governments and/or financial institutions as attack vectors towards bitcoin, but they also seem poised for failure because none of them are going to really incorporate giving up control, which would just end up causing them to gravitate towards bitcoin and to be absorbed into bitcoin or some semblance of bitcoin.
+merit 
didn't get me bitter though, that's just life.