What do you think would happen to the rest of the currencies if for some reason bitcoin were to crash and the price dropped to 0?
I'll give an example on what will happen base on my understanding.
If bitcoin goes to zero, all coins including shit coins will be dead and cryptocurrencies is going to be a fairy tale after that.
Oh no, probably some other scheme will emerge, maybe some country-controlled digitial cash, like digital USD or something. Bitcoin was not the first attempt at digital cash either, there were some precursors (long dead precursors, to be sure) and if Bitcoin dies, some other type of crypto will emerge. It will be improved over Bitcoin - some known issues plaguing Bitcoin will be corrected. Or not.
It isn't literally the first digital cash. There is PayPal, credit card, debit card and other technology that allows you to purchase something without holding any amount of cash. But most of them are also going through a third party and to the bank that takes a lot of time before being confirmed to the bank's database. And you don't have to worry about bitcoin going to zero, it's impossible now even there are too many innovation that is happening in cryptocurrency, it simply can't be replaced easily.
What I meant by "Bitcoin was not the first attempt at digital cash either, there were some precursors (long dead precursors, to be sure)" are things like DigiCash, e-gold, etc., but you are right that concepts like PayPal and credit cards they fit into this term too.
Anyway, my main point that we are destined to use some form of digital currency, eventually, even if bitcoin is considered a failed experiment at some point, stands even stronger.
