It remains to be seen whether a settlements network can be salvaged from the ashes of the house Satoshi built and the core team burned down. I would not invest in bitcoin now, simply because it is not useful now, and I have no confidence in the salvage crew.
A blind, arthritic and demented standard bearer does not seem like a good thing to me. Lack of utility, if it persists, will surely bleed its value inexorably down. I hope I am proven wrong because the wake of a sinking titan can capsize numerous lesser vessels. Even a sound one will be tossed brutally in those swells.
I know Bitcoin has been slipping in your estimations, and I agree in many ways it has lost its way. Maybe it's wishful thinking on my part that it recovers its credibility, and remains as the market driver in CC, because if it sinks - rather than is gradually surpassed - I think a crypto as a whole is in for a very long and painful time before it finally sorts itself out.
Not only does it have a use case, but it is actually fit for purpose. At least one of ten ICOs has a plausible, or even a legitimate and viable use case and hence a niche. But far fewer are actually fit for that use, and all have much narrower niches than monero, save perhaps transparent liquidity and possibly even contracts. What is the likely successor to BTC for liquidity? Well, LTC transfers per unit of market cap are vastly higher than BitcoinCash, so it is looking remarkably and surprisingly useful, in addition to it's tenure.
I don't think ETH is a robust contracts platform. All the larceny is sufficient to discredit ETH. Usability is still at the squat toilet level. But...It could be a long while before a 10x better platform emerges - and that is usually what it takes to displace an incumbent, a 10x ROI.
I didn't say I thought ETH was any good, just that smart contracts will have a use. I agree it is a mess and it will be surpassed.
As for LTC, maybe it's simply just the faster block rate that makes it slicker. However, can it take over BTC when it is so similar and likely to have the same issues when under the same scrutiny and pressures? I doubt it - but I note your thoughts. As always your posts set me looking at things from a different angle.