I believe you are trapped in the idea that Bitcoin is an "old" technology. But it is not. It has the most advanced research and development in a cryptocurrency in terms of security, stability, and scalability.
No. Currently I see Bitcoin still on the forefront. It's not "old" in any way, because most "new altcoin features" are not really relevant, and Bitcoin continues to improve steadily. I only question the conviction that this cannot change at some point.
I'd like to use analogies of paper money. There's plenty of new technologies used in, for example, Bruneian and Singaporean dollars. They're among the first to pioneer new paper tech, new fabrics, holographic security, threaded security, etc. And sure, they've achieved their own status of being hard money, but will never get the network effect of USD or euro.
But that's imo only because, in the fiat world, only currencies of big countries with several millions or billions of inhabitants and active trade with the rest of the world can achieve a "world currency" status, because they depend on usage (by individuals and companies) in their "home" country. In the crypto world, no currency has this limitation.
If we stay with the Monero example, it may be a niche today, but it's not limited to it, it could grow (almost) in an unlimited way regarding adoption, as it's also a "global" currency. For example, if extreme privacy achieved a higher valuation for people (e.g. if more countries become authoritarian), then the Monero way could be more attractive that the Bitcoin way. However, for now I don't see that happen.
If people lose confidence in Bitcoin, they would have lost confidence in the entire cryptocurrency idea. If there's any coin that's advocated for and preserved cryptocurrency, it's Bitcoin. They're mentioned in the same breath.
Again: For now, I agree. But we can't predict the future.
On topic: Well, we'll have to wait a bit, I think.
