Catapult will be first tested and launched on permissioned chains, which is actually a good thing.  They will be stressing it to the max, and any bugs will get worked out through quick development cycles that are not possible on a public chain. Also, it is easier to deploy experimental features in a permission evironment and see what sticks with businesses and what doesn't.

When Catapult launches on the NEM network, we will have a tried and tested blockchain platform, that will have gone through more testing than our competitors. 

NEM will take a while to reach its full potential, but it will be worth it.

Please keep the requests to add XEM to margin trading and lending coming into Poloniex. Use this form--it only takes 30 seconds: https://poloniex.com/featureRequest

Lending will provide another way to fairly safely accumulate XEM. Or... if you're good at margin trading, then you can make some big profits with it.