I really don't see what differentiates counterparty and mastercoin from other altcoins hence why I don't think they deserve their own subforum. As was already mentioned, putting your transaction data into the Bitcoin blockchain doesn't make your coin Bitcoin, it's still an altcoin. That doesn't mean those altcoins are useless, but they're not Bitcoin and they're not Bitcoin 2.0.
By the way, discussion about how an altcoin affects or differs from Bitcoin may be posted on subforums other than alternate cryptocurrencies, so discussions about blockchain bloat caused by altcoins are allowed outside of the altcoin section.
Counterparty is most certainly not an altcoin, it didn't even have a fundraiser and it cannot exist without BTC (nor does it ever plan to replace it). It is a toolkit that allows people to use the Bitcoin blockchain for more powerful and innovative uses than simply transferring currency, such as smart contracts. A simple way to visualize this would be to say that it is building a 'free market Wall Street' using Bitcoin transactions themselves. XCP is a necessary protocol-aware intermediate currency, and trust me the devs would use BTC if they could. Their motivations are pretty much directly aligned with Satoshi's, and the free software community.
If you want to create (numeric) assets on Counterparty, and trade them with each other,
you only need Bitcoin. You can create your own tokens/coins and trade them using
only BTC. You can also pay dividends in BTC to your assets. I repeat, if you want to create assets and trade them with each other on Coutnerparty, you never need to even
touch XCP.
The purpose and philosophy of Counterparty
has always been to extend the feature-set of Bitcoin without the use of a secondary currency as much as possible. XCP is sadly a technical necessity for many features, because it has to be protocol-aware, whereas BTC is not. If you have a way to implement these features without an intermediate currency (which in no way shape or form should EVER replace BTC, because XCP cannot exist BTC), then there are millions waiting for you.
You are welcome to install the develop testnet version of Counterparty with smart contracts:
https://github.com/CounterpartyXCP/counterpartyd/tree/developYou can code ethereum smart contracts and work with them
today. They are undergoing a very comprehensive security audit and rehaul to make sure they are stable and secure, but that doesn't mean tehy don't work. Smart contracts can replace pretty much every altcoin:
https://github.com/ethereum/serpent/blob/master/examples/namecoin.seThere are development updates on a weekly basis, and it is quite possibly the fastest developing crypto project today:
http://counterparty.io/news/P.S. Counterparty is literally the only "2.0" (I really hate this term) coin project which is actually in the portfolio of a company actually listed on a real stock exchange. OVERSTOCK is putting single digit
millions to build on top of Counterparty.
P.P.S. This is a good place to start dispelling some myths:
http://coinedtalk.com/12-myths-about-counterpartyxcp/ (may be slightly outdated, though)