you may have stated that when asked, etc.

but that was not stated in the specification

also, when the cap is reached, the blockchain does not need to stop - it can continue as long as there are nodes working, and those nodes can be incentivized via

(a) transaction fees or forging fees
(b) part of the fees from the trading/barter network can be donated to a pool from which mining rewards are paid

The irony is if the "value is in the network" then the network activity should be able to support this coin via fees; the purpose of a coin is not to be mined but to be used - mining is never to be an end in and of itself, but rather as a means to support use. If coin is not generating fees from USE then it should not be mined and should die.  If community truly was strong it would donate nodes to keep network alive after cap is reach (I know I would) It would be better to simply come up with another coin rather than change the specification w.r.t. maximum cap

simply changing the cap because a maximum amount reached is, to put it kindly, really very sloppy and ill-advised, and removes the meaning of a cap in the first place

I can no longer support this coin - I am selling out my stash

but I wish you the best