As far as I know, bitcoin and crypto exchanges are currently banned in India. At the same time, the Indian government is analyzing the practices of leading European countries with respect to regulation of crypto. I think that's a good sign, which may eventually lead to liberalization of the laws related to cryptocurrencies, thus improving the life of millions of people.

You are absolutely right that most projects are just making promises to do this or that according to a rather blurry roadmap. In fact, most of these promises are either being cancelled or postponed (e.g. they promised to list the token in November, but "due to severe market conditions" listing will take place in May next year, so investors are basically loosing their money and time).
The solution of the problem could be the availability of a working test product for any project that wants to start its ICO. Yes, in this case the developers will have to work for no money for some time before the necessary funds are collected, but at least they will present the actual implementation of the idea that lies under the project that can persuade the investors to believe their promises.

There are several aspects that should be taken into account when choosing a coin to invest into:
1. Use case - analyze if a coin can be used in real world; read the white paper, see if there is a ready product;
2. Project team background and commitment - go through the profiles of the team members, see if they already implemented successful projects; look at their activity in the official Telegram group;
3. Marketing efforts - ask questions about advertising issues and listing of the coin after ICO, as well as the distribution of bounty rewards (if any).

If you analyze at least these 3 points and find the satisfactory answers, the coin is most likely worth investing.

As far as I understand, Eth became so weak this summer because many projects started selling the coins they collected during ICOs - excess offer lead to the crash of Eth's price. Consequently, the prices of other altcoins bound to Ethereum rapidly fell several times.
I don't know how much time it would take to recover, I just hope that the situation will not become even worse and Eth will not again fall below $170.

Money is unsafe anywhere, even in most well-protected bank vaults. The only difference is that with crypto it is solely you who are responsible for providing safety of your funds (backing up keys, using antivirus, avoiding clicking on phishing links and so on), while in banks you have to rely on a third-party security system. But the way, not only bounty hunters are being hacked - experienced traders also sometimes become the victims of hackers, whose methods od scamming people are becoming more and more sophisticated.

If you are an investor there is no way to buy some coins during ICO without KYC (at least I haven't heard of such projects).
Another issue is when KYC is required for an airdrop or a bounty - and in this way I would rather avoid giving my personal details to get those free tokens worth almost nothing.

Many alts showed to be very profitable during the latest bull run - you could buy a coin for 1 cent and in a couple of days it could be sold at 10 cents. Yes, this strategy was risky and required a thorough analysis of the projects and some luck, but many people quickly made their fortune by trading alts. On the contrary, investing in stock or real estate can take up to several years to earn the same money.

There are several reasons:

1. Crypto is more simple than shares market (one can make wallets and buy coins with just a few clicks);
3. One can start with smaller initial capital (only several hundred bucks is enough to enter a promising ICO);
2. Right choice of coins to invest could really bring x100-x1000 profit (not in this downtrend, but hopefully the situation will change);
3. Bigger fluctuations of crypto market give the opportunity for speculators to increase their initial investment several times.

I don't quite agree with you regarding the "enemies" of bitcoin you've listed. Btc was created as a payment option for people who want more control of their funds, but not as a substitute for bank cards and other financial instruments. Yes, decentralization seems to be a big problem for governments that cannot track the transactions of their citizens. In this way, the biggest enemy of bitcoin is people who use it for illegal purposes like money laundering, weapons, drugs and so on.

I can see no reason for the projects to demand your credentials if they give away those tokens for free. Why should I provide them with my place of residence for the tokens worth $15 or even less? Why would they need my passport details if I am not going to invest in their ICO? This is indeed ridiculous and I strongly recommend everybody not to go through KYC for airdrops.

Life shows that scam projects teach only those who already invested in such projects. Newcomers are still making the same mistakes (do not read WP, do not calculate their possible profit, do not analyze the team and their background, etc.). At the same time, even the experienced investors could swallow the bait of well-camouflaged scams, which eventually delay their ICO, listing or even dump the coin to 90% of the initial value. What I mean, is that people are not getting smarter until they are being scammed themselves.

I think the main reason is the natural correction of the market after a relatively long bull run in late 2017. Some even say that the whole 2018 is the year of correction (I just hope that 2019 will bring some positive shifts).
Laws and regulations also contribute to people's negative perception of crypto, especially in Asia being the largest "supplier" of investors. News from the US recently promised to give another push to the market (I mean the story with SEC), but something went wrong there and everybody is waiting for another portion of positive news.

We do really need blockchain technology because it is not only about digital currencies - it can be utilized in various spheres of our life starting from data storage and ending with the elections system.
Do we need all those tons of altcoins? Of course no, and life will set things straight and let survive only those alts that are supported by a clearly demanded product.
All in all, I personally continue believing in the long life of blockchain and wait eagerly for all the news regarding its use in everyday life.

Russia is not a significant player on crypto market, so I don't think it will lead to pump if it legalizes cryptocurrencies. I would rather pay attention to news from the US, China and other Asian countries, especially the news regarding regulations, new mining pools and the behavior of older ones. The things happening in these countries could really bring new uptrend.

I suppose the reason is that Eth has showed a good dynamics - it started from several dollars and unexpectedly rose to more than a thousand dollars in late 2017.
And even despite the fact that situation has changed now and Eth recently dropped below $200 many people still see it a good investment option with its main use case being the token generation for new projects.

Yes, the progress of the investors' interest is evident, but hardly all those ICOs managed to keep their tokens at least on ICO level - most of them dropped far beyond -50% of the initial value. That's why projects that came in June-August 2018 postponed their token generation events to November-December 2018 or even the first quarter of 2019. The second half of this year showed the worst trading results ever, so the investors have become much more careful when choosing a project to invest into.

Cryptocurrencies are just one of the payment options together with bank cards, webmoney, paypal, etc. Yes, they do facilitate the conduct of local businesses, but I don't think they have a significant influence on the global movement of services and goods.
At the same time, blockchain - the technology which underlies crypto - could be a serious engine of progress in certain spheres like data storage, finance, gaming due its inherent features. In this way, crypto could help emerging new types of businesses and thus contribute to the world's economy.

I understand when celebrities say something about bitcoin (because it is the most recognized cryptocurrency) and even invest in it, but I don't believe them when they promote altcoins that do not even have a ready product. It's obvious that such a partnership is well-paid, so most celebrities do not believe in the crypto itself but in the money they are paid for advertising.

When I started doing bounties I sold half of the tokens earned and the held the another half hoping for the price to go up several times.
Now I just hold everything because all the tokens have lost up to 90% of their value. I'm about to receive the reward from the last campaign, and if the price stays at ICO level I will sell these tokens.

Unofficially - yes, but publicly - no, because crypto is all about freedom, and Muslim countries tend to suppress the wish of their people for freedom.
Anyway, the countries you've listed are economically well, so I don't think their citizens are very much interested in cryptocurrencies as they have a good basic source of income provided by the state.