As much as I appreciate Bitcoin as a prototype and proof of concept to get things started, I'm increasingly hoping to see it die, or at least lose prominence. It's become so slow and expensive that it's a horrible introduction to newcomers, and its community has made clear that they're unable to come to sufficient consensus to upgrade it cleanly with enough improvement to make it tenable for widespread adoption. It was a great and necessary step, but it's just in the way now.