One of the major advantages I think is not actually the payment system potential, but the functionality that smart contacts offer.
Bitcoin is definitely lagging behind in this area, as it will either require a few forks, or sidechain implementation to approach the smart-contract functionality offered by its rivals, but once it gets there, decentralized applications and decentralized file storage systems are only a matter of time.
I agree with you. I believe the reason why people trust blockchain because of the smart contracts offer as their information are encrypted stored safely on the shared ledger as well as autonomy where the owner will have full control of their wealth.