I think the dot com bubble era is as about as good a recent event to compare to what's happening in crypto as any. In between then and now we also have smartphones and tablets and other mobile device technology disrupting if not revolutionizing who can do what and when.
Now, except for us older folks, we can't even conceive of being off the internet for any great lengths of time, which includes our phones. if the same thing applies to the blockchain, the next five to eight years are going to be incredible.
The one thing about cryptocurrencies that these other technological disruptions didn't have to navigate so much was resistance of the status quo. Most people weren't saying I'd rather get information at a library after a period of time, other than needing to go to the library to get onto the internet. Most people weren't calling for trading in smartphones and going back to flip phones.
In the case of crypto, we're talking the potential disruption of banking systems throughout the world. That's not going down without a fight. And on top of that, we're talking about the potential of sovereignty shifting from the state to the individual in ways humanity has never experienced. That's not going down without a war.
I would love to say that the leaders of the free world are going to embrace this and hand over the keys to the kingdom, or that they'll be so blind and arrogant about what's happening that it will be too late for them to do any thing about it. The revolution will be over.
Unfortunately, cryptocurrencies are already on the radar, and governments are already seeing the potential of the blockchain and are already talking about (if not actually studying) how to create their own digital coinage.
So, we'll see. The internet brought information for free to the masses. The smartphone allows them to get that information virtually anywhere and anytime. It's now up to the decentralized blockchain and cryptocurrency to see what it can accomplish.