Our (first) goal is only one trading pair: bitUSD/BTS
I hear people say this all the time on these forums, and I think that is the wrong way of looking at it.
A. Cryptocurrency tokens which are USD derivatives (bitUSD/Nubits/Tether/coinoUSD/etc.) are a heavily competitive market.
A1. It is a market in which Bitshares is getting stomped by its competition (in terms of liquidity, volume, adoption, and usage).
B. Bitshares can easily issue autonomous derivatives for things like Gold, Silver, Oil, Corn, Lean Hogs, Live Cattle, Feeder Cattle, Wheat, Cocoa, Coffee, Cotton, Nasdaq, S&P 500, Apple, Google, etc...
B1. This is a market in which there is
no competition in the cryptocurrency space.
B2. If we don't capitalize on these markets we are certain to lose first mover advantage.
B3. An extremely large portion of the cryptocurrency community are speculators. Give them something to speculate on. They don't want to speculate on FIAT. FIAT is boring. If I want FIAT, I'll keep my money in my bank account or in cash... it is much more easily accessible, and has more security & utility.
B4. Smartcoins as a whole is the innovation Bitshares should be marketing, not simply bitUSD.
I am not saying that bitUSD is not an important smartcoin, but we should not limit Bitshares' features for the sake of having a liquid USD token. That is an already competitive space. It is possible that these smartcoins that everyone views as obscure and unimportant are actually Bitshares' greatest strength. If the smartcoin markets were liquid enough, I would diversify my cryptocurrency portfolio into many commodities, stock, and stock indexes. I have a feeling there is a large market of people whom would want to stay within the cryptocurrency economy, but still diversify their portfolios outside of cryptocurrencies and FIAT derivatives.
This "let's get the bitUSD market liquid first then branch off into other smartcoins" is rubbish. That is the same thing everyone's been saying for over two years. By the time the market is liquid we will have lost first mover advantage. Someone could code Smartcoins up on Ethereum in no time. It will happen sooner rather than later. Bitshares will again get caught with its pants down... on the cusp of a viral features (such as bitUSD), but it is unpolished/unfinished and someone else swoops in to take the meal out from under our nose.