I have just decided to shift half my USD from Bitstamp back to the safety of my EUR bank account.
It's safer, but certainly very very far from safe. Bank bail-ins are just around the corner.
If the banking system collapses, then btc price will collapse too. Btc demand is fueled mostly by wires of fiat from bank accounts from speculators.
Sure. Now. There is nothing stopping localbitcoins from becoming thee exchange tho. And I hear people are working on android wallets with built in localbitcoins functionality.
Yes, it could theoretically work, if everyone who previously used exchanges were suddenly willing to walk around with suitcases full of $100,000s of cash and make exchanges at Starbucks, while avoiding getting arrested (for carrying/exchanging that much cash). However, I don't think would be the case. Sure, there will be some activity. There might be some increase in localbtc users, but the USD volume would likely be NOTHING compared to the volume previously at exchanges. It would not be enough to support current price levels, and price would fall.