Why would ppl move from eth to xmr?
I think if anything, it would be the other way around. Ethereum has essentially cloned Monero at this point.
I disagree on that point. What has been 'cloned' is a cryptographic primitive. Monero does not have a "mixer", so the design is entirely different. If anything what was created for ETH is closer to SDC than XMR (doubly-so once ETH switches to proof-of-stake).
However, I will agree on your broader point that if ETH grows sufficiently (say two orders of magnitude from where is now) then it will become the de facto blockchain platform on which everything else is built, and that will include privacy-preserving systems such as Monero.
That's a "big if" though. While ETH appears to be gaining momentum at the moment, the vast majority of systems that attempt to grow by two orders of magnitude stumble and fail at some point.
1) Hashrate securing cryptonote chains is dwindling, whilst ETH is increasing,
The hash rate on Monero has not been "dwindling" (and the other "cryptonote chains" don't matter), it has been quite stable. While there is a lag, if the price holds up where it is now the Monero hash rate will certainly increase a lot.
True, it's hardly a verbatim clone. In reality, just the groundwork for obfuscating via ring sigs is beginning to take shape. It's a start, and should the primitives prove solid, and stand up to peer-review
potentially enough to satisfy a large swathe of users. I mean to me it's odd anyone would consider dash seriously privacy oriented, but there are enough people out there that would.
I agree about the growth issues: re possibility of too much too quick. Only time will tell the outcome, so we will have to see.
I didn't realise the hashrate wasn't trending stagnating/ trending downwards (or at least, not groing strongly, like ETH) - My bad. Is there any decent resource with up to date charts showing historical data?
However, I will agree on your broader point that if ETH grows sufficiently (say two orders of magnitude from where is now) then it will become the de facto blockchain platform on which everything else is built, and that will include privacy-preserving systems such as Monero.
I don't see that as a competitive advantage for ETH relative to XMR. All the things that make ETH valuable are actually impediments to fungible liquidity. At the moment XMR is benefiting from BTC hedging on fear regarding blocksize controversy, and on diversification flows from ETH profit-takers. But those effects will blow past as the events recede. The long-term value proposition of XMR is currency, and is quite unrelated to that of ETH. They just aren't comparables.
ETH is a platform, not a currency -- by design is profoundly ill-suited to use as a currency. You don't buy stuff with CPU cycles. You don't keep your savings in AWS units.
Well specifically Ethereum is the platform, and ETH are the unit of account (currency, if you wish to call it that). I always get lazy and use them interchangeably. just like Bitcoin and BTC. is this any different to Monero being the platform and XMR being the unit of account?
Far as I can see, XMR is a commodity, not a currency. I accept it caters to genuine niches filling a hole Bitcoin doesn't fulfilll, and has solid, peer reviewed crypto behind it. However just like many alts the main use case (in reality, more than in theory) seems to be almost unequivocally hoarding and speculating and it's usage 2 years on reflects this. The list of vendors/retailers accepting XMR as a currency last I checked was limited to a physical Cryptocoin manafacturer and a NYC based shrink..
If anything, ETH have a direct use as gas, and anyone can create fungible tokens on the Ethereum platform. I just see more purpose to holding something that has further use beyond buying...holding...and then selling
Also, I have previously mined, XMR with CPU and GPU cycles, I literally did have XMR savings on AW units DO droplets and other instances.... I mean we're talking about cryptocurrency here, are we not. why is that an absurd concept?
In regards to some of the fungibility points; Vitalik had this to say
https://www.reddit.com/r/ethereum/comments/3tappe/early_alpha_monerolike_linkable_ring_signatures/cx4rbvgNote that a BTC bridge and functionality like EtherEX will also help