It's the first and only currency to achieve zero time transactions and without the use of masternodes.
The code was audited by poloniex and is the only altcoin that is accepted with only one confirmation by that exchange
VNL is not a fork of btc, has a lot of work in developing its code proving the commitment of the dev with the project.
Vanilla code is like a jewel being polished unlike the dash code which looks like a patchwork quilt made with garbage bags
I hate the name vanilla but he promised that will change it at the right time