Good analysis of what happened last year and what’s needed this year. Basically, last year a lot of new people entered the crypto market, probably due to ETH ICOs as you mentioned. This year we need many new people to also enter, but this year they are looking for working projects not just ICO hype. We need different people to enter the space, and right now those people aren’t confident enough in the industry as a whole.

I think advancements with platforms like ETH and EOS can help some, but that’s still mostly appealing to people already pro-crypto. For someone skeptical of the whole thing, which is most people, there needs to be a mainstream breakthrough project that just happens to be crypto. Think cryptokitties, but more serious and useful or mainstream entertainment related.

That may not happen this year, but when it does, that’s what will launch the bull run. That or govt regulators shutting down the market manipulation that’s been undermining what little rises have been attempted by the market, and enough institutional money coming in as straight buys (not shorts and such). But the real rise will only come when a lot more people think it is something worth the steep learning curve to get involved with. And more training to make that accessible too.