I just saw your reply, after replying to the original post (my reply is somewhere below), but I think your points enhance the appeal of alternatives. Some of the reasons I expect others could gain ground are [apologies for excerpting from my original reply]:
"... And although it might be hard to predict which ones will be "tier 1" currencies, we can extrapolate a bit here and imagine that together with BTC we will see more of:
- those using the ethereum protocol will stand a good chance of wider adoption;
- those addressing concerns like security / privacy (XMR comes to mind here) will gain usage;
- those with a declared specific customer base / purpose (XRP and large, institutional banks and cross-border payments, and ICN and money managers creating baskets of cryptos for investors to buy into come to mind);
- and finally, those that invest a lot in marketing and separate themselves from the others that will be relegated to speculative status."
This last point probably applies most to those like DASH that are directed towards e-commerce.
But, @misfortunecookie, we should presume that BTC's devs will work to always improve it. That is a given, IMHO. Especially if they see more vendors signing on with other cryptos -- that will be a huge incentive for solving the issues you identified.
Great reply to a great post (kudos, @jrcornel)!
One or two cryptos will end up on the top of the heap in the end but, like @captaincanary says below, it may not have even been created yet. Core is incentivized to improve Bitcoin, you would think, but they seem paralyzed by its success. It's so big, like a house of cards they're terrified to breathe near.
They're also incentivized by their own avarice, because they dodge scaling solutions that would stand independent of them, and instead push things like Lightning Network - off-chain solutions that increase centralization and put more power into their hands. They crave not only the success of BTC, but cementing their own legacy and importance in the management of the ecosystem. So many very prominent members of the team have quit in frustration.
There is a lot of drama and a lot of suspicion. Other cryptos are sneaking up and will soon displace it. The 1mb blocksize that they knew was too small half a decade ago is still in place.
Litecoin, Monero, and others have dynamically scaling block sizes to prevent the technical mess that bitcoin is in right now from happening to them. Since money can so easily and quickly be moved around with crytpo (well, except bitcoin haha, but still comparatively fast to so many assets) it can slip and slide effortlessly from it and into a different currency overnight. That's what makes this market as a "store of value" so stressful.
BTC's only advantage right now is the age of the blockchain. That is what gives investors some confidence, it has stood the test of time so far. But is it actually a useful currency compared to other solutions right now? Not really, other than a store of value. That will limit its growth and eventually render it obsolete, I believe.