I think bitcoin's explosive change in exchange rate triggered a lot of backlash. Fees became astronomical as a result of greater traffic and higher exchange ra

I think bitcoin's explosive change in exchange rate triggered a lot of backlash. Fees became astronomical as a result of greater traffic and higher exchange rate. Lots of articles underscored just how poorly suited bitcoin was for lots of regular purchases. Instead of focusing on the volatility, now they could also point to the enormous fees. Altcoins with faster blocks and lower fees became much more interesting. But today transactions in the pennies (~$0.02 USD) will get cleared within a few blocks. We can benefit from the reduced congestion even if our wallets aren't using segwit or LN yet. It seems to me that this is probably not a coincidence -- that many players accelerated their plans to evaluate segwit and LN as a result of the last 8-10 weeks of activity. Unfortunately major players like Bitpay, Coinbase, and blockchain.info aren't there yet.