>SL could just take everything they have here and copy it over to another chain without the issues that made Hive implode.

Yep. Or if all other witnesses drop out, they just fire up some more nodes. 

There is so much value and security in building on top of an established community, yet like you said - chasing the quick gains means most will fail. They might make a bundle, but it is pretty much a more complex pump and dump project.