A Major barrier to most altcoins is
A lack of USD options for purchasing it. 9 times out of 10 to purchase an alt-coin you have to buy Bitcoin first. Changelly changes that for Steem and for other popular alt-coins as-well. After verification funds can go from your debit card or credit card in to any Steemit account within 30 minutes... Without the extra verification step you can still make a purchase but it will take between 3 hours and 3 days depending on your bank
Check my review of Changelly here
SIgn up here:
Use my link so I get credit for the referral, you pay nothing extra when buying coins I just get a cut of the normal exchange fee!!! https://changelly.com/exchange?ref_id=727b4d33b87f