I am trying to decipher what the future holds for eth, asides its smart contract purposes which of course bnb can offer
BNB doesn't have smart contracts though, not really. I don't think it can compete with ETH in this space. Unless this is just using something like Cosmos. It's not like BNB has years of development of its own smart contract platform. It can and is competing with ETH on token issuance, but I don't agree that it is competing directly in smart contracts. At least not yet.
BNB is not even a real cryptocurrency. How can it compete with altcoin? BNB is a token of Binance exchange. It attracts investors with its unique function - burning of coins. Investors get much profit due to the company strategy, but all this stuff has no connection with Ethereum and popularity of the altcoin leader. ETH will be up, although Binance Coin will be in trend.