Honest price prediction... if bitcoin rolls over and crashes to around $1300 which is still my expected outcome, NEM will fall to $1B market cap or less along with all over big altcoins that have gone up 20, 30, 50 fold over the last couple of months. The crash will likely be like any other bubble in history, with years of low volume price consolidation before a new bubble builds. Just because I think NEM should be valued higher doesn't mean the market agrees. In fact Ethereum will likely be trading at $5B market cap sometime in the next year.
I think crypto in general is haunted by the 2014/15 bear market. I also think that won't happen again to such a brutal extent. It was down to factors that no longer are there.
There will undoubtedly be no shortage of crashing, but it'll feel distinctly lightweight compared to that.
I hope you're right! More robust exchanges, more exchanges, with better customer service and quicker responses to change in market demand will help with demand. Also if an exchange that came along also became a legal bank, say coinbase became an actual bank where you write checks, can get CDs, etc.. that would go a long way with people feeling secure keeping more of their money in the crypto space. I know they say they are FDIC insured but it's not the same in my eyes, though honestly the exchange has better security than most banks so I'm betting my funds would be fine there.
Even during the lull of 2016 when there was little in the way of activity, I see the same complaints about these exchanges taking days to respond to any customer issue.. simply unacceptable. Part of the problem is a lot of the people who invest in crypto shun closed source, shun anything "establishment" and are somewhat anarchist in their way of thinking. As long as these conspiracy theorists call the shots, the crypto space will largely be somewhat unpredictable and insecure. Nobody should have to invest in a computer disconnected from the internet to create a paper wallet where they store all their funds to avoid risking losing them, and risk having their altcoins disappear for days because an exchange is having withdraw issues. That's not the way crypto is headed for mass adoption.
Simple, secure, idiot proof solutions with wallets that are simplified and secure for the end user are the future.. like NEM's nanowallet only better. Most likely the changes will be transparent to the end user, such as NEM's Mijin being used by banks without the end user even noticing the changes. I maintain closing of the source of your unique tech and licencing it out is a smart business decision as well.. it will prevent people from simply copying your tech without remuneration.
