Good question.
Transactions themselves are not what we're trying to measure. The important thing we need to measure is usage. Transactions themselves are a noisy indicator, all usage involves transactions but not all transactions represent usage. We have to use transactions as a proxy, in combination with other forms of evidence of usage.
In order to try and work out if transactions represent usage, you can observe other supporting evidence. For example, in Steem we can be sure of real world usage not only because of the transactions themselves but also traffic to the websites that produce Steem transactions.
https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/steemit.com
https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/neo.org
If there is a more trafficked website for NEO please let me know.
I addressed this issue relating to Dogecoin in a recent comment.
If there is legitimate financial activity going on on a chain you should be able to see it in other ways. For example web traffic to Dogecoin related sites.
Dogecoin.com is dead.
The Dogecoin subreddit is dead, with a new post every few hours:
https://www.reddit.com/r/dogecoin/new/
There is far more activity on https://www.reddit.com/r/btc
Given the lack of evidence of activity within Dogecoin, I would say the burden of proof is on those making the argument that the transactions represent economic activity.
RE: SHITCOIN BAG HOLDERS