You should explore what a protocol like Mastercoin would mean to the market place in value if it can actually provide a trustless way of creating contracts, betting, distributed exchange, smart property signatures, etc.
2 minutes of poking around on Google netted me the following explanation of Mastercoin from Reddit: "The Mastercoin protocol layer mediates between the existing bitcoin protocol and users-generated currencies. It is intended to be a base upon which anyone can build their own currency."
At the risk of sounding obtuse, I don't see how this doesn't relate directly to altchains; this allows users to build their own currencies based on the Bitcoin protocol, correct? Which would by definition make them alternative cryptocurrencies? Perhaps I have misunderstood and/or this description is inadequate.
Because it's more than just about user currencies. Read on
Give me a sec to pull up the Whitepaper for you.
Edit: https://sites.google.com/site/2ndbtcwpaper/