Japan has almost a unique position towards bitcoin in east Asia (looks like Singapore is bitcoin friendly too). In Europe, there are a few countries like Belarus, Cyprus, Malta which try to attract the money by taking a similar position.

Now the way I see it: bitcoin can have a future, but this future will need to rely on the big efforts of a few countries (the ones mentioned above + a few others), which means it will take a lot of time, especially if in the same time USA, Germany France decide to take restrictive measures.

2018 looks like it could be a year of transition:
-Lightning Network getting more and more adopted
-regulations in most western countries (already happening)
-more and more restrictions regarding services offering a bitcoin mastercard + services like Advcash (bitcoin related), Payeer, affected by these measures

So 2018 all things considered is not looking great for those looking at a short term profit.
But it could be an opportunity to get bitcoin at a lower price, see how G20 summit unfolds in April, see if Lightning Network gets more and more used, and (back on topic) see if the bitcoin friendly countries can push bitcoin on the way up again.