agreed, excellent post Melbustus.

i almost feel like (or hope) that scenario 2 will cause a massive and long lasting spike in the value of bitcoin. as though the more effort governments backed by corrupt banks puts into squashing bitcoin - it could almost act conversely as a kind of legitimisation on the disruptive power of bitcoin in decentralizing the monopoly of wealth.

it may be a longshot but i think bitcoin is here to stay, at least on at least on the black market and/or as a form of currency in developing nations.