I think that probably makes a lot of sense for Bitpay, but it doesn't mean that their change in strategy is a barometer for where the industry is heading.

Some things I'm keeping my eye on: Open Bazaar, hardware wallets integrated into phone and computer motherboards, and whichever micropayment channel or 2.0 protocol that can handle extreme volume makes it to the market first. Also, software programs that compete and evolve using cryptocurrency at a very granular level, international commerce through remote services (p2p - perhaps via hologram) using bitcoin as a transnational currency, contracts and systems of law being automated, and decentralized identity - not just of people, but of physical things too on immense markets where everything in the world is potentially indexed and for sale by the owner, at least in metropolitan areas. Delivery fees for drones paid in bitcoin. AI that assigns values to things that require actuary tables today with extreme accuracy, new predictive models that run on real currency, lots of fun stuff.

This is where you start to see some interesting things happen. Bitcoin isn't going to disrupt things by letting people buy stuff on Overstock.com, or by companies building out exchanges all over the place.

Bitcoin gets interesting when it creates industries and possibilities that didn't exist, and connects things financially in ways that aren't possible for today's financial institutions.

Today's legacy financial institutions will still exist, but I sure wouldn't bet that they are going to be the forerunners in these industries that people are still imagining.

I can't predict the future, but I can extrapolate the past. Banks aren't going to be leading in that space, not without some remarkably forward leadership, anyway.