Demand has crashed because speculation is much more difficult now, and it's much easier to get into a position where your only choices are (a) sell at a huge loss; or, (b) hold and hope it goes up and you can get out even. A few years ago when it was much more volatile unless you were very unlucky with your timing you didn't have to wait more than a month or two to be able to sell with substantial gains, and wait for another drop to buy back in (or buy in pieces on the way down).
DataWallet[0], for example, is building blockchain-based data hub for users to manage their data, in such a way that they (the users) retain control over it, and companies wanting access have to pay. Simplest use case: enter your contact info in 1 place only, not on every website you sign up for. More generally, I think something like this would be well-received by the public, given recent outcries around privacy, scandals in large tech companies, and the emergence of GDPR (specifically: regular people learning - perhaps for the first time - that they have a right to control the access permissions of the data they create, even on someone else's platform).
Another development of interest is Basic Attention Token[1], wherein users are essentially paid to watch ads. This project is pretty well-known so I won't say much about it other than that it does have consumer appeal.
Granted, the majority of blockchain projects don't (directly) address major problems that consumers have; rather, most address the problems that developers and/or businesses face. The hope is that some of these new technologies will enable said devs & businesses to build better products for their respective users.
[0] https://datawallet.com [1] https://basicattentiontoken.org/
Citation needed. The impression I get is that other than a get rich quick/MLM scheme, there isn't really anything there of interest to the general population. And I say that as someone who has spent a lot of time thinking about Bitcoin and crypto in general.