Problem in some of your reasoning: the incentive structure and how this can't be divorced from the idea of a public ledger-based platform. The trouble is that it's already happened.

The proof-of-work system which establishes the incentive process for mining bitcoins and other altcoins is already becoming old fashioned. Proof-of-stake, proof-of-transaction, proof-of-burn and other experimentations are already taking the open ledger platform concept and moving away from wasteful, incentive-driven structures. Open source developers are moving away from proof-of-work projects because, ultimately, it's a waste of electricity.

Bitcoin is already being replaced -- the prices simply don't know it.

Regards,

Jeff Barnes
Tampa