Well your bigger picture may be tech. My bigger picture sadly is profit. Tech advanced in a direction that hurts profit = bad
Let me put it simply ...perhaps the fault is mine for not being clear.... here goes....
Crypto going mainstream even in it's current form (non dark) = bigger profit for everyone involved in crypto right now.
Crypto with advanced anon tech not getting to go mainstream = less profit for everyone invovled in crypto right now.
I like profit as much as the next guy, but to me adoption has more important implications than profit, though I think dark achieves both of our ends.
I simply do not see dark crypto as a threat to the crypto ecosystem. I agree with you that the bitcoin foundation would compel us to submit to anal probes if it meant getting eBay to accept it, however I think that is why altcoins like dark are necessary, as the anon feature which will invariably be painted "evil" is segregated. The anon feature however is very necessary to its growth as the core principles of crypto are dependent upon it. There are literally posts on reddit by "libertarians" warning against using crypto because its a government scheme to track you. Keep in mind, the MSM is already painting Bitcoin as the criminal currency, darkcoin can draw no-worse attention.
Crypto is anti-government by breaking the fiat monopoly, so anonymity is necessary to be effective at subverting currency controls. Bitcoin is the backdoor to crypto acceptance, while darkcoin can be the crypto equivalent of a swiss bank account. And last I checked, Switzerland isn't rich just because of watches.
With Bitcoin being the "reserve currency" of crypto, darkcoin will drive its price up because it is just now one more tool that can be bought with bitcoins (because as we know there will never be fiat-> dark exchanges). Darkcoin is dependent on Bitcoin staying the way it is.
The swiss just got their asses handed to them as did those hoping to keep anything dark there. I agree with what you say in part. However, purely in terms of profit i see darkcoin as a step in the wrong direction.
It's late here so time for bed.
I guess all we can do is wait and see. As you say MSM and many want to paint bitcoin as bad. Silk road helped that image. The bitcoin bigwigs whom have most at steak and want profits are pushing for transparency based on profit. They have no principles or core beliefs in crypto that they are not willing to forget for hard cash. Same for most here. I just think darkcoin will give these people the excuse they are looking for.
I don't see bitcoin being able to exist whilst like you say you can exchange anon currency into it so easily. They will most likely just try and blanket ban the lot. It will not be that easy to seperate them.
If dark coin was eventually pushed to the fringes only and bitcoin goes mainstream.... then you would really really need a good reason to use anon currency to risk it. You can be sure there will be exagerated penalities for it.
Dark is a good tech coin, smart team. Is it the most promising coin for profits...........not for me it is not. It is high risk for the reasons i have said and because it can be copied. If nxt had released full source i beleive we would have seen another 1000 nxt clones and that would be worth a lot less too even though there is without question innovation there too.
Well let's revisit this matter in a few months and see where we are.