Even if Bitcoin never managed to become an efficient tool for remittance and retail
It already is efficient and successful as a remittance tool.
it will still remain valuable and keep growing for at least as long as no other crypto replaces it as the default base pair in trading alts.
That is a pretty pathetic description of "a significant" bitcoin use case.
This also means that it'll grow at least proportionally to the overall crypto market for the time being.
You seem to be lacking in imagination... no?
Also, the window of opportunity that jojo noted is a very real threat to Bitcoin's position at the very top. Competition is fierce and the market moves fast. All it takes is a superior coin and the right marketing/hype. Granted that's very difficult to pull off (as it would require resources well beyond what ICOs raise), but it's not something that is unthinkable.
Oh my!!!!! Sounds scary.
Our anthropomorphized bitcoin should be shaking in its proverbial boots, no?
1. Not for smaller transfers, no.
2. and 3. Context. I've isolated the worst case use case as an example, which in reality is just one part of the equation. A part that has sufficient potential to justify valuations in the trillions.
4. Extremely unlikely doesn't mean impossible. I'm incredibly bullish on Bitcoin, but that doesn't mean that it's a sure shot.