Yeah, that dependence is going the way of the Dodo bird. You are for one seeing more and more pairing of the top cryptos to smaller alts so you could use BCH, ETH, and even LTC now in a lot of exchanges to buy smaller alts rather than BTC. Also you are seeing more direct buying of alts coins from fiat so you don't need to buy any BTC to get any alt coin. Things like the Robinhood app are going to really change the game. People were stuck having to go through BTC but with more access it will have to stand on the merits of its underlying tech alone.