I think this video by @cryptomarket is a useful introduction for those brand new to crypto,
tldw:
He puts Cryptocurrencies into "buckets"
- "dumb" blockchains (no conditional statements), BTC & alts
- "smart" blockchains (conditional statements) ETH, EXP, ETC
- "decentralised storage" blockchains MAIDSAFE, SIA, STORJCOIN
- "decentralised social media/ blogger" blockchains STEEM/Steemit, AKASHA
I think it's useful to point out that different coins are tackling different use cases.
I am a fan of platforms that solve one problem really well than branch out incrementally from there. Platforms that try to take on too much too soon tend to fail.
Ok... So Bitshares would fit into the same "smart blockchains" class as Ethereum, correct?
And theoretically - one might be able to develop apps on whichever category blockchain might be most appropriate to suit the needs of the app - though could potentially be integrated with other blockchains in the same or different category via an API, custom-coded to the requirements of the application...?