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Bitcoin is the individual's method of garnering a similar handle on wealth[ed: as gold]. Ripple and other systems will develop into more effective fiat replacements, allowing Bitcoin to act as a settlement currency - gold's digital analog.
Although it makes a lot of sense and that is what I deeply hope for...
As far as I am concerned the jury is still out on whether that will be the case, and if it does turn out to be, whether the system will have bloated beyond the capacity where it could realistically be operated by a large pool of individuals. The ability for the operational infrastructure to be cheap and widely dispersed is THE thing which gives Bitcoin it's backing and strength in my opinion. As that erodes so does my confidence in the solution.
Bitcoin has, in my mind, made two mutually exclusive promises. Decentralization and scalability. People are becoming more and more aware of the dichotomy as time passes. I already plan to liquidate at least half of my Bitcoin holdings based on the community consensus alone as this issue comes to the fore. Naturally I'll be doing this when I judge the conditions to be in my best interest, and I've not even been tempted yet (beyond re-claiming my initial fiat outlay at least, and that happened on my initial schedule...vis-a-vis the profit multiples.)