Not sure if those are your words or if it was quoted from the link but either way I think you nailed it. The protocol is powerful but the coin itself will be a failure.
You can't separate the protocol from the coin without retaining the entire reason the protocol exists in the first place: decentralization.
People are really being thick about this point recently. I think everyone's all excited because blockchain tech is cool and all, but are forgetting the core reason why it's interesting and necessary...namely, that it solves global consensus without a central body.
If you separate the coin, you've got centralization somewhere, and if that's the case, then you don't need a blockchain.
This fad, borne of ignorance, of "separate the currency from the network" will pass.