I like to think of Bitshares as offering us bitshares x as a step toward second generation cryptocurrency along with a toolkit to enable all DAC developers to infuse their own ecosystems with value.
Primary Token DACs
Let us for a moment look at the current field. What do we see? We see Bitcoin with its POW infrastructure, Litecoin with its different algo POW infrastructure, Peercoin with its POS infrastructure and a few others with similar, but unique decentralized consensus algorithms. These are what I would call Primary Token DACs. They represent the largest percentage, based on market capitalization and as such are considered the most valuable Primary Token DACs. They have their own networks and communities that own and support them. They focus primarily on the sending of funds from one place to another, acting as a store of wealth.
Secondary Token DACs
Then we have Secondary Token DACs, known as "altcoins", that currently want to serve as stores of wealth. However, due to their late-arrival have been forced to add new features (like darkcoin, blackcoin, monero...etc) or reduced to clever marketing blitzes/pump and dump schemes to sustain and pay those who provide security/tx processing. It is hard to be a Dev, "miner" or long-term holder of these kinds of Token DACs because there is a significant chance that many altcoins are going to be made for one reason--to pump and dump so Devs/miners can make a mint through the transference of value from newbies with bright bitcoin millionnaire dreams to one or all of the Primary Token DACs in the first section.
The Difference
The Difference between PTDACs and STDACs is that the PTDACs are ones that have something else...a means by which others can transfer value to the ecosystem through a purchase of the token and, most importantly, the acceptance of that token for a valuable service. Lets think of all of these Token DACs as little towns in free space. They have popped up saying "hey we have shiny stuff here! come here and get it!" and people flocked to them for the promise of riches. Instead, most of their investors buy the shiny stuff, travel to their little plot of township acreage and find noone who will work to build them a home, or even a business able to provide the basic building blocks (lumber, nails/screws, power, saw...etc) to build one themselves.
In this analogy we can say that Secondary Token DACs are little ghosttowns. This is for multiple reasons:
1) most of them have no real infrastructure in place that accepts the tokens their settlers purchased early on.
2) most of the tokens given out/purchased early on are not well known to a large number of people.
3) the low number of active settlers in the ecosystem makes for a lack of variation and "action potentials" (random sparks that cause great booms of innovation).
4) mining cartels form, mining significant portions of a native land's token from the ground, sell settlers into their system and essentially steal value from them using contrived schemes.
The settlers always end up being hurt from all of the above indicators, with special attention to the fourth. However, using this analogy we can say that Primary Token DACs are little better. Though they often have interesting features combined with fewer troubles with at least one of the of the above indicators.
"Arise Bitshares Toolkit"
(http://i.imgur.com/wZfa51M.jpg?1)
and the Emergence of Ultra Mega Service DACs...
The BitShares Toolkit essentially gives DAC Devs an easy means of creating Service DACs that have all the beautiful functionality economically sound structure offered by TITAN and DPOS, which essentially is like giving your DAC the best of all worlds with regard to features touted by the top contenders in the STDAC sector. For instance, TITAN gives user privacy and encrypted messaging. DPOS gives all the benefits of Ripple and beyond, in terms of scalability, along with the value of shareholder voting for the power structures that form up around it. DAC Devs can release their own Service DACs also gets the ability to reinvest electricity savings from transaction fees back into infrastructure, burn fees to create deflationary scenarios (if/when it is ever wanted/needed), lower fees substantially, and operate on equal footing to some of the fastest processing networks in existence.
But lets see, we might have saved the best for last (pretty sure we did ;)). A DAC dev can create Service DACs that honor all the loyal settlers who stuck with them through the pumps and the dumps, through the drab times, when the entire colony was starving, thirsty and in need of shelter. That Dev can use the BitShares Toolkit to create their own bank (like a clone of bitshares), construct Casinos, voting apparatus(es), and other needed services. Then the Dev can turn around and provide a snapshot of a large portion of those Service DACs' tokens to the holders of their PTDACs/STDACs. Over time, this kickstarts others' willingness to invest long-term in the PTDAC/STDACs' shares.
In this way, BitShares can breathe new life into an industry that is far overdue for it. What do you think?