The fact you had to mine to earn coins and that became the basis for pseudo-anonymous transaction and the ultimate propagation of cryptocurrency, was the true innovation Bitcoin brought. Now, with ICOs, buzzwords, pump-and-dumps, and a new exchange every Tuesday, I feel like that sentiment has been washed.
The economic model of Bitcoin - to create artificial scarcity over time in addition to short-term supply control - was an incredible thought at the time. How do we move back to this model without the cancer of speculation?
We probably won't be back to that stage anymore. Its safe to say that things have blown a little bit out of proportion especially latter part of last year with many people getting in probably for the wrong reasons and belieiving it's just an easy way to make big money.