It is natural to look at things in terms of fiat...we really do not have much choice at the moment since we are still tied to that world. Few, if any, are able to escape it at the moment.
That will change the more crypto gets into people's hands. This is where the expansion comes in. The more crypto one is holding, the more that can be converted to another that is tied to a different project.
Ultimately, I foresee people getting all kinds of different tokens, many which can buy goods and services directly using that currency.
For us on Steem, we are starting to see the transition to STEEM being the base currency.