Nxt doesn't need 4000 BTC for a huge success, it needs 4000 participants.  I agree that critical mass is important, not sure about an early adopter bonus though.  First let's get something working.


To keep you updated, here are some technical details:

Address length - 8 B (max 20 chars in human-readable notation)
Private key length - 32 B
Public key length - 32 B
Signature - 64 B
Block header length - 192 B
Transaction length - 128 B

Each transaction has "deadline" value to limit time it can be added into a block.  Days when you send a transaction and wait a whole day to get it confirmed have gone for good.  Now you can set deadline to 5 minutes and if it's not confirmed then resend it with a higher fee.
Also each transaction can be marked with "id" (8 B length) to help merchants to identify your payment.  Not necessary to create a separate address for each customer anymore.