The article is advocating an incomplete picture. If we see this as a cyclical struggle between state-backed and private currencies, then what will actually happen is a competition between the two.
The state will prefer using force to squash bitcoin, because that's what it's good at, but we already have the recent history of digital media piracy to inform us of how difficult it can be; the only thing that has substantially slowed piracy has been to make the legal market increasingly cheap and convenient.
So regardless of who "wins," the existence of bitcoin acts to motivate a restructuring of top-level policies; employment of the traditional warmongering will drive it underground but not out of sight, since there isn't a "head" or "ringleader" to attack.
The state will prefer using force to squash bitcoin, because that's what it's good at, but we already have the recent history of digital media piracy to inform us of how difficult it can be; the only thing that has substantially slowed piracy has been to make the legal market increasingly cheap and convenient.
So regardless of who "wins," the existence of bitcoin acts to motivate a restructuring of top-level policies; employment of the traditional warmongering will drive it underground but not out of sight, since there isn't a "head" or "ringleader" to attack.