But the difference between Bitcoin and almost everything else is that Bitcoin does what it does despite having the shit kicked out of it 24/7 for years on end and maxed out much of the time too. It's also managed to do that while still doing its best to uphold its principles and fighting off endless attempts to hijack it.

That's the bit that counts and that's what decides its value and position. That also overrules potential usability shortcomings. It motivates people to improve the strongest chain, not start from scratch with something effectively unproven.

The only thing that's come close is ETH in terms of usage and scrutiny and that has its own problems too.

If any other projects rose to similar prominence they'd experience the same agitation, intrigues, meddling and attempts to game and break them. Since we have no idea how most will fare most people won't bother volunteering to be the test subjects.