These were nice years, but unfortunately all things come to an end. It is time to say "Goodbye". I still think bitcoin is a brilliant invention which brings immense power to the masses but the human element was more agile and found ways to almost destroy it. It's wounded, but not by a security flaw, not by a design flaw, just by misuse and abuse. Nobody can tell what will happen in the future but one thing is certain: nothing goes up indefinitely and all markets are cyclic.
This is strange. Bitcoin is more a libertarian concept than a technology. The blockchain is a technology invention that made the libertarian concept of a cryptocurrency possible.
What we are seeing (and I applaud it being a libertarian myself) is exactly the freedom we are longing for. Predator and prey, greed and scam, the powerful and the weak, hopes and deception, wild swings, ups and downs: that IS liberty. The "human element" is exactly what we want to liberate, and what you call the destructive powers is exactly the freedom we are longing for. So what's the problem
Bitcoin is an element of libertarian freedom, and is behaving also in that way.
To me, this is all just great ! What did you expect, maybe ? Freedom means also that you shouldn't count on any specific behavior of others to achieve something. Freedom means exactly that: freedom.
I don't consider myself a libertarian per se, but good points all around. It is exciting to see a wild west mentality and landscape where people are forced to be 100% accountable for themselves.