but it is VERY different from some real world investment. there are similarities, there is no denying that but for example you can consider shares of some company in stocks market versus an ICO. that company has to actually exist have some value and be doing something for real so that it can create shares and sell them to people so when someone invests in that company they are not investing in thin air.
but when it comes to an ICO it doesn't have to be a real thing, there is no company, there are no teams, it can be literary one person copy pasting code and doing absolutely nothing, and none of them deliver ANYTHING in the end. they are just pure thin air that people gamble on..
You’re first paragraph nailed it. Second, not so much. There are very very Few Alts that have real world value but not many. Cardano and other multi-tear platforms utilizing smart contracts have massive upside if they are to “win” and stay alive and keep innovating. The financial system could greatly benefit from smart contracts like when using escrow and trusts. IOTA and GameCredits corner a particle sector and solely focus on it ..not being a BTC alternative. There’s other examples of coins with teams, real world value, and are more than just smoke..though very very few.