I’ve always said this—$DOT is meant to be used for software. There’s no reason it should be expensive just to build on @Polkadot, especially with JAM on the way. The real value comes from the software built on top.
If you look at other chains, it’s usually the native token that becomes the most expensive part, which ultimately makes the chain extractive.
Spin-off chains like @bittensor , @enjin , and @DeepBrainChain have all used Substrate to build their own ecosystems. So why should the core infrastructure be so expensive to build on? At that point, developers might as well use a standard Rust-based, non-blockchain stack.
There has to be leverage.