In the future, assuming that the crypto-currency ecosystem continues to grow, we can make three different assumptions for the markets.
Scenario A: The "king" Bitcoin is definitely needed
Bitcoin arises again as the "king of cryptocurrencies", and becomes definitively the reference in terms of store of value and means of exchange. He sees the arrival of all the features and attributes of his competitors through "sidechains", "drivechains" and "second layer technologies".
This scenario is known as "Bitcoin maximalism". For the proponents of this vision, while different altcoins arise each month, they fail to impose due to an insufficient network effect. And those who have bet too big on their success sees their fortune melt like snow in the sun.
Scenario B: The fight continues
Calm never returns to the battlefield of crypto-currencies. Different digital assets continue to emerge - assets that meet different needs.
Protocols such as Interledger enable the ecosystem to be brought together through atomic swaps, giving users the opportunity to benefit from a harmonious experience by juggling different assets.
If this scenario is particularly interesting, besides being plausible, it fails to fragment both liquidity and security crypto-currencies in their entirety.
Whatever the degree of marginalization of the BTC, those who have bet on good innovations can beat Bitcoin maximalists.
Scenario C: Bitcoin plunges
The approach of Bitcoin maximalists, both in terms of the evolutions developed around the BTC protocol and the political tensions that they are likely to impose on this asset, lead to a decrease in its power. The latter is left behind by competing projects - and these investors end up ruined.
They could however limit the breakage if they could amass some altcoins, benefiting from "airdrops" and "forks". Some, however, have been able to systematically seek to liquidate all of these "dividends" to increase their stock of Bitcoins.