Initially XEL was brilliant and could be integrated into so many other service like coins, think of an Ark smartbrige allowing users to use XEL through a shop by paying in Ark and the end user not requiring to hold XEL.
The great thing about XEL is that you input code and it spits out code, not need for fancy interfaces.
BUT
the drama with devs and the ICO funds really hurt the project.
in my understanding there are NO full time developers working on this project. This is a side project to their real day jobs. Dont take me wrong, they would want to go full time but there is no funding atm. It all comes from a community fund that has been gathered from contributions.
So i am not sure firstly if they are direct competitors to GNT but most importantly i dont think they have the funds to develop the product.
Ouf XEL. I first read about it in this forum, looked it up and sounded like a great buy but it turned out I entered at a coordinated pump so at the moment have lost 25% of BTC value already. However,,, XEL is a really promising project. Yes they had some crazy things going on with contributed money (they did not run any ICOs) but the best thing is that they have always gone on developing whether or not they had funds.
Remember a lot of Bitcoin people started off doing it without money and part time. And a lot still do.