Yes, but the Casper PoS switchover was planned for later this year (but realistically 1st Q 2017 or later) would likely be moved up if funds started dwindling and price kept falling. Thus any switchover this year would potentially indicate a sense of desperation.

The event you speak of could be multiple targeted and repeated attacks within ethereum contracts directly which indeed could happen. We are finding out that solidity is not the only flawed language on the EVM; Serpent is vulnerable to similar problems.

http://www.joeykrug.com/home/a-serpent-send-exploit


This is what could indeed cause a general panic inducing both investors and a few developers to get out while they can .

Expect Ethereum 2.0 however , these folks are married to the turing complete koolaid.