Maybe crypto is like PMs where gold is still king after thousands of years.
Bitcoin is more like aluminum than gold. In order to transfer value it takes much longer and costs vastly more than any other crypto of comparable monetary function.
It remains to be seen whether a settlements network can be salvaged from the ashes of the house Satoshi built and the core team burned down. I would not invest in bitcoin now, simply because it is not useful now, and I have no confidence in the salvage crew.
Bitcoin should and I hope, will survive. Its robustness (anti-fragility) is legend and so it is and will be for some time the standard bearer for all crypto.
A blind, arthritic and demented standard bearer does not seem like a good thing to me. Lack of utility, if it persists, will surely bleed its value inexorably down. I hope I am proven wrong because the wake of a sinking titan can capsize numerous lesser vessels. Even a sound one will be tossed brutally in those swells.
Monero has a lead for being perceived as honest and unflashy. And it has a use-case. As long as the use case is required it will be hard for other coins to take over its place. Optional privacy may be added to other coins, but Monero's privacy by default is the only way, so it has a good chance of being one of the 'few' to make it.
Not only does it have a use case, but it is actually fit for purpose. At least one of ten ICOs has a plausible, or even a legitimate and viable use case and hence a niche. But far fewer are actually fit for that use, and all have much narrower niches than monero, save perhaps transparent liquidity and possibly even contracts. What is the likely successor to BTC for liquidity? Well, LTC transfers per unit of market cap are vastly higher than BitcoinCash, so it is looking remarkably and surprisingly useful, in addition to it's tenure.
I don't think ETH is a robust contracts platform. All the larceny is sufficient to discredit ETH. Usability is still at the squat toilet level. But...It could be a long while before a 10x better platform emerges - and that is usually what it takes to displace an incumbent, a 10x ROI.
Shouldn't LN make BTC liquid?