The example with @podping and @brianoflondon is a prime example of how this works.  He is not what we would call an "insider" yet here is a guy who knows some coding, had an idea, saw an opportunity, and got it funded by the community.  It is not getting Hive exposure as well as being a protocol that could be at the base of the Podcasting industry.  How cool is that?

His service would not work on other blockchains.  It would cost him a couple thousand a month in transaction fees alone.  On Hive, it is fee-less.

So I am buying into where you are coming from.  It seems the further down the road we go, the more the flaws in other systems is exposed.  Many will survive and even excel, but as you stated, will exclude billions.  They will cater to the "big boys" with the rest looking elsewhere.

Let us hope Hive steps up for the elsewhere.