For me, bitcoin has the potential to shutdown the other financial intermediaries because through this technology we can send money to any person directly anywhere in the world. It is fast, open 24/7 and low cost, no wonder lots of people prefer bitcoin payment system.
Bitcoins problem is that there are a lot of coins that do the same things but better. For now bitcoin has the name and all , but i don't know how long that will help bitcoin stay on top.