I do think chainblender could bring some more awareness to VNL. We'll see.
the 8btc buy support is a little unsettling, perhaps because of the delays.
will we see a better price, before real world adoption?
without getting into specifics and techy details, all we have is a bitcoin semi-clone with a fast transactions, its how this can be used in real world, will determine the real price.
You could spend all your time suping up a car, adding larger engine, lighter weight and bigger turbos, but at the end of the day, without a direction to drive, its just a waste of time and money.
we need a clear direction and path.
Figuring out how to do zero conf transactions is a MAJOR problem Bitcoin is trying to come up with (centralized) solutions for. Bitcoin also is trying to decide whether to raise block size and is having problems with that.
Right now, the VNL network can process 100 transactions/second on-chain (15x BTC) and 15,000 tx/sec off-chain (3x Visa's daily peak tx rate)
The purpose is to be the decentralized alternative to Bitcoin, while Bitcoin will continue to centralize. Also, anonymity might attract others.
Of course, ultimately you're correct. People need a reason to buy the coin. For now, the reason is speculation, like all other crypto, and to be part of something that might revolutionize how payments are made/funds are transferred/how we connect. And again, there's no real reason to hold dash, yet it's market cap is 30x ours.