Maybe some people are hard-headed. The primary purpose of cryptocurrencies is to provide a means of transfer of value, with much of the individual token value being derived from the value of it's utility and cost to produce. It's quite weird that a bitcoin can be worth more or less than it's cost to issue, depending on whether there is a demand or not for the transfer of said bitcoin. The value of NXT and the value of Bitcoin comes from the services it provides.
Sending messages, voting, exchanging and p2p transactions are all utilitarian purposes, and their cost to offer is proportional to the cost to sustain them. If the price to sustain those activities is lower (lololol PoS = I just sit around doing nothing while a 19$/month PC/VPS keeps my wallet connected), then the value of the transacted tokens is lower. If the demand is higher, then more infrastructure will be added to increase the cost and offer security.
Consider the scenario of cheap altcoins that can be forked or attacked with less than 1000$. How much are you inclined to transfer more than 1000$ using those blockchains? What about creating a contract on the bitcoin blockchain which is sustained by millions of dollars daily?
What you are talking about is hype and marketing. And don't forget about competing hypes. Once people decide to cash out and chase the next hype or use the better service, the previous service is worth nothing, whoever invested loses everything. Also the infrastructure (lololol basic PC/VPS that can be reconfigured for new coin) goes away, it's not like you have multi-thousand ASICs that can't be re-purposed. And again, if you stake value, you can't use it. If you don't stake value, you lose it. As time goes by, costs go down and the value of the service goes down. If a better service appears, everyone jumps ship.
We somehow agree.
The value of a crypto come from services it provide. The first service that is common to all cryptos is to provide a means of transfer of value.
I do not agree that the value of the individual token is derived from the cost to produce. The PoS is the proof but even in PoW, it is not related.
We see everyday people mining at a loss or doing incredible profit for a short time on new altcoins.
If you take the FIAT money, the cost to produce a 500 € bill is no way close to it's value.
The first advantage to lower the cost of the network (PoS) is to lower the fees for services. Lower fees is in fact an added value. The cryptos is able to offer the same services or more than others at a lower cost. In the end, this attract investors, business and activities.
You see the high cost of ASIC and the fact that it cannot be re-purposed as an advantage but I see a disadvantage.
ASIC is very expensive, risked and ultra quick obsolete. It give the control to a small elite that can afford taking risk and be competitive.
I'm not sure I understand the part were you talk about staking = losing... how ?
If you don't stake you use it. Using a token/coin/currency give its value. As long as you don't spend/use it, it remain virtual.