There is manipulation in every financial market on Earth. It's just that regulation of traditional markets force manipulators to be more discrete and resourceful about it. Bitcoin doesn't have that regulation in place to control it or at least make it less blatant.
S&P500 is driven by the FED reserve, Silver by JPM, and Bitcoin by anon whales. This won't change any time soon. The best we could hope for is that we all make it out relatively unscathed. I enjoy trading this market. Without MM's shoving it around, it would be more boring than watching paint dry, so I say whatever!
For my answer to the question, I don't think they will kill Bitcoin. This is a lucrative market and they aren't going to destroy their means of income/accumulation. Now, if it were naturally tending toward zero except when they shove it up, then they will do it until it dies, but I don't think it will die because of them. Basically, if Bitcoin is to die out, it would happen with or without them and the whales may be the reason it doesn't happen faster.
Like you said there are billonaires invested here. The Winklevoss aren't going to let this thing fall down and we also got the Virgin guy, Kim Dot Com, Max Keiser... basically lots of millonaires that will not let it crash, ever.
The manipulation will naturally stop being so centered in a couple millonaries simply when a lot of millionaires and a lot of average joes join the game, then it will not be as easy to drive the market up and down at will.
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