Tech != Market Adoption... two different metrics. Market Adoption is a function of awareness of a platform penetrating through society, and society adopting it.
I have experienced this for the past 10+ years of being a techy, since I was 14, really so almost 20 years. Plenty of good technology goes by the wayside because it does not get market penetration.
Nothing against WAVES, platform should increase in value, it should be a win win for owners. It's all good stuff, but knocking off first-to-market movers takes more than just slightly better tech. Even slightly better economics often is not enough. Every other coin besides bitcoin is cheaper to send funds with... but bitcoin is still first. Economics != Market Adoption either. It's a function of behaviors that have to be predicted, better vs. worse only affects decisions to a degree, but there are plethora of other factors.
RE: Ethereum is worth 50 billion market cap, $500+ per ETH.