bitcoins were never meant to be used as a fiat or to replace it
Read the title of the whitepaper: "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System".
One of satoshi's primary aims for Bitcoin was to prevent the high fees caused by trusted third parties, and the fraud that ensues. With high transaction times and/or high fees, it no longer serves this purpose. To claim that it was "never" intended for this purpose, though, is ridiculous.
What will they accept instead?

I imagine that they'll just continue to accept fiat and give up on crypto altogether for now.