Ethereum? Gaining huge traction right now but one look at the inflation curve compared to Bitcoin and there's just no way i'm going for that.
Ethereum isn't my favourite coin, but let me add two comments:
- "Ether" isn't meant to be used as a regular currency but as a "fuel" for smart contracts. So it's more of a base token on top of which other tokens can be created. An example is MakerDAO, which wants to create a stable currency based on the platform but is in a very early development stage.
- The inflation, if viewed in an exponential way, is descending.
I think with Ethereum one should wait and see if its Turing complete script language really enables something useful that could let to mass usage and couldn't be done in Bitcoin. It's still early and risky. As of governance, for now it's worse than Bitcoin (very centralized).
There are other interesting cryptocurrencies in the second and third tier, like Decred, Sia or Ardor (and others that are very small but interesting, like Slimcoin or Qora), although many of them still are either alpha or their "killer features" (e.g. hard fork voting in Decred) are still not implemented. We have to wait.
So for now, I agree with your general conclusion that there is no really
usable alternative.