The alt-coins are not dying. The spreads are adjusting themselves to account for BTC rise in price. It is as simple as that. If you want more info, I wrote about it:
hereAnd there were alt coins that actually did gain against BTC this weekend, I wrote about them as well:
hereBut very few people here appear to look at the markets broadly. Most just tend to focus on the coin they have the greatest quantity of.
The truth is that these coins are really only as useful as their adoption rate. In the long run, this adoption rate will be 0. Also, the flood of altcoins will only get worse. It will dilute the market and make them all equally worthless over the long run. Miners will simply migrate from scumcoin to scumcoin to maximize profits. Thus, their support infrastructure is merely an illusion. I think this is a good thing .. good riddance. Only a few unrealistic investors actually believe is here to stay. This is all just a scheme for speculators like me to make profits while the making is good and enrich some coin developers. Sorry guys. That being said, alt coins will never die, because people love to gamble. But that's all it will become .. pure gambling in hopes of catching a pump and dump before everyone else does.
I agree with most of what you said, however I believe that alt coins are sort of a sandbox. I believe in BTC and am sure it will continue to rise, however I believe that it is not flawless and another coin will emerge which will supplant it. Surely that coin will come from the alt coin scene. Currently there are a few alt-coins which are not scams which are actually trying to gain acceptance. Currently the alt-coin scene is like the wild west, it is completely unregulated and tons of scams are abound and everyone is looking for an instant get rich scheme. However, there are people out there that can and will innovate. Those that truly believe in digital currency as the future, not merely as ploy to confuse people with technical jargon in hopes of getting them to hand over thier money. The people who are in it just to scam and make a quick buck (I won't name them here) infuriate me. They are detrimental to the broader acceptance of crypto currency.