my theory is that most of the 5 digit and up investors were around and saw or heard btc go from pennies to something. they have regrets of not putting any money in before it took off. paycoin was marketed (and parroted by ppl who could explain basics of crypto) as a extension / better version and saw its huge share of alt coins.

since btc rocketed why not 'btc+' ?  
people with ok jobs and expendable income but not tech-savvy

i remember people touting btc to me when it was new. im sure same phenomena is working here too except now theres the "+ version" which can piggyback on btc success

now its based on basic scam job of providing enough reinforcement to believe the dream is true