I agree with most of the comments. For most of the BTC clones; the dependency on BTC is endemic. For NXT; I noticed that it is still problematic because, while the value of the coin respecting BTC increases; the value respecting any fiat currency (which at the end, are the currencies that can allow you to buy stuff and transfer value to the cryptocurrencies) is going down or it is keep in best cases. This is not good since it makes cryptocurrencies only useful as a high risk invesment instrument more proper for speculation. This is at the opposite of the NEM concept. IMO, the questions to solve are:
1. How to get independency from BTC
2. How to transfer value from the real world to NEM in a direct way (so then merchant can use directly)
3. How to establish an easy fiat-NEM exchange that goes in line with point 2

I think it is important to think how to solve these issues before launching or, at least to have some ideas how to do it. I am confident that the dev team can work in a solution but, as a community I think we need to discuss these issues