Below is my personal opinion on the long term future of Bitcoin. While I am no expert, I have been following experts for some time and this is based off their insight and my own opinion of future market conditions. Right now we are experiencing a retracement that has many panic selling. I personally am loving it. Kind of like a Black Friday sale because Bitcoin experts are still predicting $50,000 value in one year. That prediction was based on $5,000-$10,000 by end of 2017. Bitcoin, whether or not becomes a widely accepted payment system, will have its place, I feel, as a medium of exchange. The power the US dollar had with the gold standard years ago is the same backing most altcoins need with the "Bitcoin standard." You can just focus on altcoins and ignore Bitcoin. As you see when Bitcoin drops, altcoins drop. So buckle up, buy now, and get ready for a heck of a ride. This retracement is like a rubber band being pulled back and it's about to take off again. Would you rather trade your altcoin to USD which has no backing and decreases in value every year or would you rather trade your altcoin for a secure digital currency with a set limit that will explode in value as people realize it's place in cryptocurrency and demand skyrockets again. This recent boom was a lot of uninformed investors jumping in. When the world realizes the place for Bitcoin and alt coins, we will see an rocket ship up in 2018. Bitcoin will become the store of value while altcoin will be the widely accepted currencies. Keep in mind none of the experts predicting $10,000-$50,000 Bitcoin value in 2018 have issued a statement retracting that. Take out the emotion, buy the dip, and enjoy this ride!