Yes - I can see that you appreciate the magnitude of the problem.
First, development will not be as hard as it might seem:
The L1 is a copy of Bitcoin Core -- and will remain so. So we automatically tie Bitcoin for 1st place, in development.
We can (and have) added to Bitcoin Core, using CUSF. So we can actually exceed Core, without changing any lines of code in Core.
Most of the L2s have already been built. And since they already work, people can fork them to make new L2s.
Mostly -- "development" is done by a lone wolf genius. Bitcoin Core is a pointless bureaucracy that just merges new unit tests, and in general they cause far more problems than they solve. That isn't the "development" we need.
Most of the "good" altcoins -- fought tooth and nail to be a part of Bitcoin! That was their desire. To develop on Bitcoin. For example -- ETH and Bitcoin Cash -- Vitalik tried to add smart contracts to BTC, and largeblockers fought to get a blocksize increase into Bitcoin. They didn't want to launch an Altcoin! So -- the bottleneck is not "development". The bottleneck is actually "removing the barriers".
Imagine that each cryptocurrency is a ladder. We are climbing the ladder(s) to the top of the mountain. We have climbed very high on the BTC ladder. I am proposing we go all the way back down, and then up the ECX ladder. Why would I suggest this? Because the BTC ladder doesn't actually reach the top. It reaches very high up -- but not to the top. We can either remain in denial about this fact, or we can just Solve The Problem.
Yes - I can see that you appreciate the magnitude of the problem.
First, development will not be as hard as it might seem:
Imagine that each cryptocurrency is a ladder. We are climbing the ladder(s) to the top of the mountain. We have climbed very high on the BTC ladder. I am proposing we go all the way back down, and then up the ECX ladder. Why would I suggest this? Because the BTC ladder doesn't actually reach the top. It reaches very high up -- but not to the top. We can either remain in denial about this fact, or we can just Solve The Problem.