The difference between CRISPR and many other overhyped technologies is that CRISPR has already proven its mettle. It’s being used productively daily in labs across the world and has lowered the cost of performing many experiments, or even made new experiments possible in the first place.

You’re right that there’s a certain amount of hype surrounding CRISPR, especially when it comes to potential medical application (whether this works remains to be seen, although I and most people in the field remain optimistic). But until something even better comes along I don’t think interest in CRISPR will die down soon.