Classic henn and egg problem. Most people dont want to use it because their favorite apps are not supported and mist sevelopers dont want to put ressources into a platform without users.
The same reason why microsoft phone failed, they were just too late.
Unless you provide support for APKs and have banking apps supporting your OS, it is really hard to create a non-android-based OS.
In reality hes the only madmen but switches IPs in between