Bitchat is kind of cool, but I think meshtastic actually has a bit more of a future just due to the fact that it can go longer range and therefore less people have to have it in order to make it usable.
It's the whole chicken and egg problem of nobody has it because nobody uses it, because nobody has it, etc.
Since meshtastic can go such a long range with the repeaters and stuff, it makes it a lot more likely that if you just buy a node and turn it on, you will find other people using it.