The analogy b/n crypto protocols and the development and competition between cities for economic prominence actually goes a step farther to include the ICO phenomenon. Take the competition b/n St. Louis & Chicago for Midwestern economic supremacy that shaped the 19th century. 👇
In the late 18th and early 19th century, St. Louis was a more significant hub with better links to the east. With the completion of the Erie Canal, a period of rapid land speculation began in earnest in Chicago in the 1830s. 
For the next 20 years, economic promoters known as "boosters" would travel between the two cities and the East Coast, trying to garner prestige and - more importantly - investment capital. The new opportunities presented by the railroads were a major focus of the salesmanship. 🚂
There are many reasons Chicago started to pull away by the 1850s/1860s, including Civil War disruption, but a big part of their success was the positive feedback loop between successful east coast promotions and new entrepreneurial activity that strengthened Chicago's community.
By the 1870s and 1880s, Chicago had cemented its role as the Midwestern transportation leader and gateway to Western business. Alongside this, the wealth and population of the city itself rose. The impact of this 19th cent battle shaped the geography of America even till today.
The analogy isn't perfect, but it's not hard to see Chicago and St. Louis as protocols competing for the attention of developers and investors, with the various informal and formal promoters, marketers and evangelists of protocols as the boosters.
Of course, one difference b/n cities and the ICO boom is that both Chicago and St. Louis had strong natural reasons to be worthy of consideration. There weren't boosters promoting random Indiana towns with no water access just b/c Midwestern cities were the vogue investment.
Anyway, it's a fun chance to walk down some American history, and a reminder that speculation *is* a part of all economic development. The thing that matters, ultimately, is 1) what the speculation is based on; and 2) how well speculation becomes self-fulfilling prophecy.
To read more about this, I highly recommend "Nature's Metropolis." This was one of the main texts for Professor Henry Binford's epic 3-course series on the History of the American City that many a Northwestern student took in their day. amazon.com/dp/B002VDF5NG/…
