I have Russian friends (and Ukraine family), and I can tell you they are interested, but for them it's (currently) much easier to get and hold Dollars (which they do for years already). Things will change when strong capital-controls are issued (but they don't expect that Poetin is that dumb).
Haha, Reddit has just announced that they will release Reddit notes (950K), randomly distributed among active members. I predicted something similar, that in a few years major retailers will release their own coins. They already exists as Xbox points, or Amazon rewards or whatever is that called. The advantage over bitcoin are/were: --random and more even distribution over a very wide userbase. This causes a kickstart, cutting down on 3 years of bitcoin history. --bigger usability if the retailer doesn't let bitcoin to be used just the own coins. Again, everything is the same as with bitcoin, except a large premined set of coins are distributed among millions of users and the retailer will favor its own coins over bitcoin, but they will let it be used for other retailers too. This gives more value to the coin. It is basicly a secondary stock offering of some kind....
You should do some more study here. They don't want to issue an altcoin, but instead go for a Bitcoin-backed: Side-chain or colored-coin. This means that it's still pure Bitcoin-backed and not an altcoin at all.
I don't think they have completely decided yet, kind of just testing the waters... Well, it is not even 1 week into the new year and BTC is down 10+%. I guess time for the new coin... Here is a guy, DanV, who had some good predictions and predicted this downleg. His following prediction is that price bounces from $250: https://www.tradingview.com/v/A1mFwkEG/
50% drop in 2 weeks, Bitstamp clocked $152 overnight. Here is a fundamental problem: The cheaper the price, miners are more inclined to cash out to pay for ongoing cost like electricity, further depressing the price... Could be good price (around 190 now) for a bounce... The dangers of trading on margin, a poster on Reddit: " I want to say a really big THANK YOU to everyone's kind words and well-wishes when i got margin called yesterday. Your emotional support means a lot and has been getting me through this very dark time. Reading those comments have kept the bad thoughts out of my head. I'm doing a bit better now. This morning i was barfing a lot and i think i puked up a lung. Then i just started crying non-stop. I'm still crying but at least i'm not barfing anymore. Thank you so much for all your support. Originally i was afraid of being trashed on and judged for my stupid decision to margin trade (gamble) bitcoin but i was surprised by how understanding everyone was. I assure you all that if/when i get through this I'm not going to do anything this stupid again. Thank you so much for being here."
what a prediction, and yet 2 months later you claim you will hold until 2020, despite another 50% drop since your post some people never learn
It reads "at least". As a minimum time frame. and 2020 as a maximum. This 2017 is an important date in Bitcoins-lifeline, as by then the algorithmic inflation will abruptly go from 25 to 12.5 coins per 10 minutes (this will have quite some effect on the scarcity). Just a honest and well-meant trading tip for fellow ET-ers. No need to attack me personally.