I feel NEO's spotlight has been disrupted.

I completely agree, there versions of ethereum popping everywhere and then there are improvements. I can definitely think of ICX, ADA, and EOS in this regard, but I am sure other regional smart contract platforms are there. I had heard of one from India as well. can't remember the name. I do think, however, that in the long run, if and when blockchain becomes more mainstreams, govt will focus on R&D in this space and they may choose regional projects.

Mining is in its early stages so we should place positive seeds.

Yeah, agreed about the need for green energy. Even if mining isn't energy intensive now, it may be in the future. But may be then, a lot of mining will become more concentrated. Anyway, there is no reason to not go green.

On coinbase, when I started to invest, i wanted to find how can i invest in bitcoin using fiat. The answers all pointed to coinbase. may be one or two more exchanges, but i think miners only directly sell bitcoin to coinbase. again, not 100% sure about this. but coinbase does seem to have a monopoly, that is there to be challenged.