The project has some long term merits imo. As far as getting rich by just holding Bitcoin circa 2014 style... maybe not going to work.
The recent developments are...strange, but then again the whole ride has been strange. Bytemaster stepping off is having a complex effect, that is imo, not entirely negative. His leadership tended to be indecisive, confusing, and his word is not entirely solid, and he has an interest in declining the price to prove his point about dilution (sorry BM!). This is not entirely his fault, as he is just reacting to new information as it arrives. Which is what is interesting and unique about the platform, it relies on member politics as much as if not more than preordained algorithms. In this next phase, I think we'll see some new and improved leadership as the next generation of developers use the platform to build their reputations, we'll see some unified direction as the current feature set is honed into the best possible decentralized marketplace out there, we'll also see some really interesting businesses built on the platform.
All that's needed is:
Rock-solid leadership,
Innovative Development,
Excellent traders,
Talented entrepreneurs building on the Platform
in order to achieve that:
a well documented and intuitive api (so that less technical people can use the advanced features of the platform)
less drastic changes( let it be what it is so people don't fear to use it because it might become something else)
trading platform integration (Mt4)
Witness secured crypto-deposits and proxy tokens(sidechains) (make the platform more attractive to traders)