"I find it all very irrational, but if I can make profit from it I'm game."
Lol, I think that rings true for alot of markets, but definitely for bitcoin/altcoins. I think the vast majority of us were/are just holding for the next bubble. We are all playing the greater fools game, buying expecting to sell it to a greater fool for more in the future.
I think long term success for alot of people means bitcoin/their altcoin continually rising. The thing that people miss is that bubbles are caused by irrational thinking, they aren't supposed to make sense. They build because of emotions, such as greed, so powerful that it overpowers rational thought. Its what makes people overreact and mortgage/sell their house and buy bitcoin after it's already risen nearly 10x, something we've now seen repeat during both the current & last bitcoin bubbles.. Irrational exhuberence. (I really hope that dude from 2013 kept that shit, he's sitting pretty today if so, its hard for a non-trader to hold with conviction though, especially after it loses 50% and you start thinking "what if it never comes back")
I 100% don't see a reason for bitcoin to have a 50b market cap unless there's so many people using it that the system needs to hold that much value/liquidity in order to transact properly.
Long term success for me would be being able to pay every bill I have and make purchases from nearly every store using bitcoin directly. We can get into the argument of whether bitcoin will be surpassed by an altcoin in the future, but it's the same philosphy. The first one to it, imo, is successful.
If I was to say the steps I'd take to create a coin for mass adoption, I'd get many different partners accepting the currency (something that will be extremely hard to do because of regulations and worries about price fluctuations and why they should trust your currency). You'd also simultaneously want people using the coin (otherwise what's the incentive for accepting it?) so I'd advertise using social media and pay massive amounts to advertise all over the place outside of bitcoin related circles.
The thing is, coins have tried this. Auroracoin is a perfect example of how hard it is to get anything going. If you hand out free coins, they are going to sell them and take the money. If you sell them the coins, they are going to call you a fraud.
The only way I think it will happen is if it's meant to happen. Bitcoin has come a very long way since it's infancy, now it is being accepted my Japan as legal tender and has made headway in nearly everyone country in the world. That's something literally ZERO altcoins can touch, because it can't be artificially replicated.
Great answer BitWhale!
"If I was to say the steps I'd take to create a coin for mass adoption, I'd get many different partners accepting the currency (something that will be extremely hard to do because of regulations and worries about price fluctuations and why they should trust your currency)"The thing is, coins have tried this. Auroracoin is a perfect example of how hard it is to get anything going. If you hand out free coins, they are going to sell them and take the money. If you sell them the coins, they are going to call you a fraud.I think as an industry, we didn't do enough prep work before 'pushing' cryptocurrency at the masses. Of the cryptocurrencies that weren't intended scams, how many set out with the 'dream' of thinking all they had to do was launch a cryptocurrency for a particular niche market, with some new algorithm, or loaded with features that no one really needs, and they would simply be discovered by the mainstream? We all tend to think the market is maturing, but may look back at this as just the beginning, and the cryptocurrency we should have been investing in can still be bought for pennies.