Hi Twilight
If you have been following the community news you would see that Core is indeed very active, but use a private repository that will be made public the moment Evolution is ready. The reason for this is nothing nefarious, it is simply to protect Dash's first mover advantage.
The code will be open source and public the moment it is implemented.
In this regard it is also worth mentioning that the current code has been submitted for audit by a bug hunting company. There is also a sizeable public bug bounty program.
As for your second point
1) The hurdles to international money transfer are SIGNIFICANTLY greater than doing fiat -> crypto -> fiat transactions on a local exchanges. This is just my own experience. The maximum Westen Union transaction I was allowed to do in South Africa, last time I tried, was 10 000 ZAR. That is about 700 USD.
2)Most countries, even places like Zimbabwe (a major receiver of remittances from South Africa) have established local exchanges. The important thing is that crypto prices on these local exchanges are often highly inflated. The BTC price in Zimbabwe is already far over 10 000 USD. Even here in South Africa the BTC price on Luno is inflated compared to the international spot price. This means that instead of costing money, crypto transactions to poor countries may even have a negative "fee". It can immediately be sold at a profit.
3) As more people receive Dash via remittances, more people will use it in day to day commerce. If they have it they will create an economy with it. If they do not have it, it is impossible.
