Interesting point regarding the precious metals but you're right, the amount of metal in the safe doesn't decrease. It's also an interesting example given the recent IRS guidance on Bitcoin being "property" rather than a currency.
It's unfortunate that so many people are using cryptocurrencies as a vehicle to make a lot of fiat gain rather than to use the cryptocurrency as a currency. We're not going to change the system if Bitcoin, Litecoin, Freicoin, etc.. are thought of as just another way to get rich and/or hoard and save.
It is unfortunate because a lot of the stronger coins have greatly benefited the "first movers." But hoarding (i.e. saving) is not necessarily a bad thing, especially for a long-term "deflationary" system like Bitcoin. However, the vast disparity is another issue entirely.
I think we're going to continue to see crypto-currencies used as an investment/speculation vehicle (rather than as a currency with an in-built ledger/accounting system) because of the IRS ruling in the U.S. What needs to happen to provide stronger affect in changing that is to have an economically strong country legislate that crypto-currencies truly "currencies" rather than just vehicles. That would have a great impact in making crypto-currencies more of a "mainstream" thing.
Once that happens, there can be enough velocity of money to change to try other experiments on a more appreciable scale (such as Freicoin). But that opens a whole new can of worms (at least in terms of finance and law).
