[mrtksn]

I'm not sure about this argument. You can also make a perfect copy of Facebook and you wont have a facebook. The brand is what makes Bitcoin, just like most of the companies that have perfectly good competitors with the same or better product utility but nowhere the market or profits.

For Bitcoin to die out, every single person needs to decide that doesn't want it.

[kybernetikos]

There is a social network using facebook. If that network moved, it wouldn't matter how respected the facebook brand was. The brand primarily has value only in the effect it has on growing the network. The same is true for Bitcoin.

Since people want bitcoin primarily because they believe other people want bitcoin, if 90% of the userbase shift to monero or ether or some other coin, there's really no reason for the 10% to hang around. Zero is a very plausible price for bitcoin.

[mrtksn]

Definitely, it's just that moving away from Bitcoin is not much more easier than moving away from Facebook.

I agree that it can happen, like the exodus from Digg to reddit, but the brand is strong and it will have serious financial implications making it significantly harder than creating an account on the competitors product and continue as is.