Bitcoin got to 10bn marketcap with no bling bling though
I think if you do well what you ought to do, then recognition and adoption is inevitable. If you hype yourself beyond what you can deliver (that's what all altcoins do) the situation can only crash due to disillusionment. Darkcoins survival, for me at least, is not dependent on whether doge goes to the moon or vert tries to chew the ltc market. Do they have anything to offer? I mean
for real? I say no. We'll see in time if I'm right or not.
I also believe our "survival" is guaranteed through the anonymity characteristics because it's an enormous market cap right there - but it'll have to be constantly patched for issues and developed further (IP obfuscation should be next after DarkSend - otherwise coins with DarkSend + IP obfuscation will overtake Darkcoin as a more complete package).
BTC was the only game in town for quite some time
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You're absolutely right about over-hyping, but I don't think anyone is suggesting that DRK do that. Personally, I don't even think DRK needs to do a whole lot - if anything - in the way of overt advertisement. Subtlety is the name of the game here. The coin is good enough to stand on its own merits, assuming it delivers on all it has promised.
However, when people do come upon Darkcoin, does it enhance or detract from their experience to find that every detail (or as many as possible) has been given obvious careful consideration?
Use the second one too. 
