The bad news about bitcoin and regulations issues all over the world is what is actually affecting bitcoin and other coins. The price has been trap for the past three days and there us a lot of uncertainty in the market. I think and I agree with op that it will take a very serious manipulation before bitcoin can push forward and I think such need to be done. If there is no serious manipulation then don't expect anything positive to happen this year.
I think people exaggerate things a lot. Regulation may be tough but no one speaks about outright ban on crypto, at least not in Europe or US. Any real ban will only decouple crypto from fiat completely and likely lead to the creation of parallel payment structures. It would definitely kill speculation but isn't that what many old-school bitcoiners want anyway?