Don't fall for "smart contract" platforms.

[maku]

Smart contract are not something bad or unneeded feature. It is rather general problem with mass creation of useless atlcoins.
Even 'smart contract' platform will be worse and worse because there are too many of them.
Saying that smart contract is useless is like saying that blockchain tech is bad because we have some random altcoins.

[mining1]

R3 is still around; but, they abandoned ETH after testing it early in 2016. They went on to test various competitors platforms and then developed their own. Now they are just another Ethereum competitor among the many.

R3 failed as a consortium, they reached the conclusion that they do NOT need blockchain technology for what they were testing. That has nothing to do with ethereum and they are not really an ethereum competitor, it's like comparing apples to oranges.

[NoiseBoy]

I would take a more nuanced approach. Something like: Smart Contracts may or may not have long-term value, but it's unrealistic to think a half-dozen smart contract based platforms can all succeed. If you think they can, I have some doge coin to sell you. Pick one or two most-likely winners, and hodl.