" But in that case, why even bother with BTC/BCH at all?"
This is a great question, and sometimes we can't see the answer even though it's sitting right in front of us.
We are all extremely early adopters. Most people have still, at best, heard only of Bitcoin in the crypto sphere. If we buy what we know to be the best coins on fundamentals this early, we are going to miss the price pumps as dumb money flows into the sector (See: BTC, Eth, LTC, Ripple, etc...this year).
BTC will be first, for now, as that's how money comes in.
Remember, if you're posting on a crypto-website about crypto...you need to drink a lot of lead paint before you're operating at the Wall Street level, which just recently pumped a nothing stock to 7.1b because they started "block-chain" to their press releases.
You're absolutely right.. but those lead paint drinking people obviously know nothing about crypto and wouldn't know the difference between BTC and BCH either. They just look at the one that's priced the highest as being 'the' Bitcoin, I believe.
So for now, those lead paint drinking people still only care for BTC and probably don't even know BCH exists and if they do it's only to get in, and get out quickly for a quick profit. They don't really add much to the ecosystem except volatility.
Bitcoin is king for now because it has the name and the appeal (moreso than BCH) but I think pretty soon 'crypto' is going to replace 'bitcoin' as the buzzword of choice. Once we're no longer talking about Bitcoin but rather Crypto then I'm not sure either Bitcoin will survive into the future. Neither of them scales enough, and when it comes down to wether I want money that is just money, or money that pays me for holding it, I'm going with the latter. Once people start thinking with their wallets instead of their hearts, I think eventually sentiment will change towards these crypto's more. I mean, why not? All things being equal, one giving 8% dividend while the other does not.. I know what I'd choose.
I do agree that playing the 'dumb money' game can be more profitable than being 'too early smart money'. I tend to be too early.. I'm there even before smart money shows up it seems (usually this means I lose out on other opportunities big time) but I still feel it is a more safer bet than gambling on what the herd is going to do. If the project is good, I know that smart money will show up eventually, and I may get a 10x instead of a 50% gain.
Like, dumb money made BTC skyrocket and my BTC value in my portfolio sucked big time. There's something to be said for chasing the rises, sure, I could have benefitted maybe. But instead I patiently waited for my turn to rise, and now I am in a pretty good shape again in terms of BTC value in my portfolio. There really is more to HODL than just meme power.
edit: Also this discussion makes me think I should look into RaiBlocks again. I just wish I could withdraw less than 100. It's an interesting project.. if anything is going to function as peer-to-peer cash I believe it is going to be projects like that and IOTA. I'm starting to believe more and more that blockchain may not be suitable for instant micro payments.