The fork discussion is pretty revealing. Consensus means nothing to these bagholders and they would love to get rid of it. I'm about to divest entirely. Altcoins are the future.
Actually Bitcoin can have some future imo. I just don't think an unstable crypto-currency should be encouraged for use as a transactional currency but rather as a store of value/savings currency until it gets VERY large.
The problem is Businesses exchanging Bitcoin directly for fiat, any alt has the same problem, probably more so as they're even more volatile.
The solution is stable crypto-currencies that are backed by an unstable crypto-currency. My money is on BitAssets like BitUSD, but there's also NuBits and Ethereum is working on an inflation stable currency too.
Businesses can hold a decentralized USD and not have to worry about volatility. The holders of the backing currency get wealthier the more demand there is for the stable option.
Looking at the amount of businesses accepting crypto, the amount of purchases and amount of 2014 investment, I actually think crypto is doing fantastically - It's use is taking off big time imo. It's only the shift to stable BitCurrencies for business that is required to reverse the downtrend imo.