I think bter will survive based on one simple fact: If bter survives and grows, users get their BTC back, and if it doesnt, they dont. In the same way bitcoin miners early on were incentivized to bottstrap the bitcoin network, bter users with most coins are incentivized to help bter survive in order to get their BTC returned.
Obviously it is injured by this and wont be what it once was, like bitstamp, but it should survive.