>One Japanese small-business owner that accepts bitcoin as payment said Japanese banks had expressed skepticism toward the payment method, and that the business's lenders this week asked that the company wouldn't use bitcoin in the wake of Mt. Gox's stopping all transactions on Tuesday. "They're approaching bitcoin very conservatively," the owner said.

I don't think that the demise of mtgox will destroy the ecosystem. However, I suspect this will be a major setback in mainstream adoption as a method of payment. Bitcoin speculation (and difficulty of shorting) may very well prop up the price for the foreseeable future, but... so what? The interesting thing about the Bitcoin saga is seeing it work its way into mainstream.

I'd be happy to be proven wrong, though.