if price and excitement carries on i can really see this becoming a reality next year. what effect would it have? would it drive out everyone but whales? would it drive out whales too if the minnows walked? would big boys take over and keep it for themselves? if that was the case would miners be making so much freaking money they'd no longer care about block size?
right now for its own health possibly the best thing bitcoin could do is crash and scare everyone away for a year or two. that should give enough time and space for businesses to integrate segwit and maybe those second layers will happen as well. by the time people come back it might be ready to accommodate them.
and no core moaning or alt pumping here. let's hear what you think could happen to bitcoin itself and nothing but if this takes place soon.
Here are my thoughts... Bitcoin price is soaring and the big boys (Ver, Wu, McAfee) are enjoying it... Bitcoin attracts people to learn cryptocurrency in a form of an investment. Here in Asia, coins.ph announced that they will soon offer bitcoincash in their wallets, that gave me an impression that the bigboys will soon support bitcoincash because of it's faster and cheaper transactions. I know this sounds awkward, but I have a strong feeling that bitcoincash will be the mainstream-head's choice over bitcoin core.
Another is Litecoin.