Bitcoin (& litecoin) are the sole currencies of dark net drug trade, which is a large, exponentially growing business. Bitcoin is working very effectively in the wild, and all the dorky conjecture doesn't change that.

I only vaguely understand stellar (and ripple), but one thing i do know is that for all the hype over the last few years noone ever used ripple for anything other than speculation. Stellar is also shaping up in a similar way.