Bitcoin Forum

Stop calling state of the art cryptocurrency "altcoins".
Bitcoin is not special and shouldn't be treated as "the one". Thus: stop using the word "altcoins" and replace with "cryptocurrency" which puts Bitcoin side by side with the so called "altcoins".

Bitcoin is just first mover. It has many problems like high inflation, sickening and pigheaded cult following, bad wealth distribution, ninjalaunch with stealthmine (dev and buddies mine pretty much in private for years before anyone has a chance in getting on the bus - a altcoin new cryptocurrency released in that manner today would be discarded imediately), high energy consumption, a phony "foudation" and a goofy dev "Gavin" who doesn't see the bigger picture and is likely influenced by the wrong people.
What bitcoin has going for it is the hashrate and the "network effect". But hash can go away in a day when another coin becomes as profitable. The network effect and first mover advantage is wearing off. I'd even say many alts have better network effect because they also have better distribution of wealth and more early adopters than bitcoin had when it was as young as many of the newer cryptocoins are now. So I'd say the "network effect" is worth shit and another coin like doge and friends can beat that any day.

Last but not least bitcoin is technically outdated. A new coin with same specs released today wouldn't go anywhere. Nobody clones bitcoin these days because in todays' environment bitcoin "as is" relaunched is not viable anymore. Think about it.

So really folks, stop making a difference between "bitcoin" and "altcoins". It is "cryptocurrency"! The word "altcoins" should be abandoned.

Cryptocurrencies are just the collective term for both altcoins and bitcoin. And whether you consider bitcoin outdated, there is a massive gap between bitcoin and every other coin (coinmarketcap from yesterday):


There is a reason why virtually every coin gets traded to- and from FIAT through bitcoin.

Besides, you use the term alt on a regular basis too.

This board is called *Altcoin Discussion*.

That's so people can discuss *Altcoins* here and Bitcoin on the Bitcoin boards. The people who run this forum obviously don't consider *Altcoins* as side by side with Bitcoin and neither do I.

altcoin's a perfectly ok name, though i also consider bitcoin an altcoin, being an alternative to fiat coins.

Someone seems to be a bit aggravated.  :P
That's what i mean with "unbearable cult following".

I've got no problem with the term "altcoin." It's an alternative to Bitcoin, so it's an altcoin. There will come a time when the name changes, but it won't happen as long as Bitcoin dominates.

Why are other cryptocurrencies an alternative to bitcoin? Bitcoin is an alternative to other cryptocoins aswell. It goes vice versa; equally. Bitcoin is an alternative to Litecoin for example. All coins are alternatives to fiat or to each other. So the term "altcoin" doesn't really make sense unless you include bitcoin into it. Errr, wait ... nah, really the term doesn't make sense in 2015.

You say "terms won't change as long as bitcoin dominates" while i say "bitcoin will dominate as long as terms don't change"

Would you suggest this forum moves all threads into one giant board entitled *cryptocurrency*? Perhaps you would like the name hanged to cryptocurrencytalk, although cryptocointalk is already in use.

We can leave it as it is. Just exchange the word "altcoins" for the term "new cryptocurrencies" or "cryptocurrencies of the 2nd generation"  ;)

What about the people who don't know what the new terms mean?

Should we exchange the word "altcoins" for the term "cryptocurrencies of the 2nd generation formerly known as altcoins".

It didn't work for Prince the pop star. He said he wanted to be called "the artist formerly known as Prince", but everyone carried on calling him Prince.

You're right. They should be called crap or shitcoins  :D.


Bitcoin is special. It's the alt coins that aren't. I think one could come along that is equally as revolutionary as bitcoin but I haven't seen anything get close yet.

Someone called them bullshit coins today, which is a new term to me.

Bitcoin is one of the few crypto where people from real life would accept it as payment.
I can't see it happening for other altcoins now.

I believe that's their scientific name.

let's be real now: Bitcoin is the biggest shitcoin of them all. I mean look at the charts. Every alt is ready to be pumped again a couple of weeks after it dumped. Buttcoin needs almost a decade to dump out. It's really a drama with that one.

This is the biggest downfall of altcoins, sorry, cryptocoins. If there's little to no merchants accepting them then as a currency they're doomed. That's why I think it's best just to stick with bitcoin and all these niche coins like sexcoin and weedcoin etc are pointless.

What's state of the art about them? Bitcoin is state of the art if anything, but I think alt coins are both alts and crypto. Crypto is the name for them all but bitcoin was the pioneer so any other coins are alternative to it.


My personal favourite is 'buttcoins'.

Because anything that is not Bitcoin is an alternative to it at this stage. No other crypto currency is even close to Bitcoin in terms of acceptance and real world use. Bitcoin is the king and hopefully always will be, but the alts do provide a really nice testing ground for features that Bitcoin might use some day. Pretty silly topic though as this is all very obvious to anyone who plays with crypto coins.

I think you can apply the vast majority of this to most alts plus many more. It's not like most alts aren't just scams from the get go with one purpose in mind and that's to get rich quick.

It's funny how much you marginalize the biggest advantage that bitcoin has... Bagholding some crappy alts, maybe? ???

The vast majority of bagholders are sitting on Bitcoin losses. It's called the "first mover" advantage.

Once a cryptocoin (probably Goldcoin) surpasses Bitcoin in marketcap, daily volume, transactions, and popularity, the term altcoin will no longer apply.

It is just a way to shorten a longer term.  If that upsets you then I can't imagine how you feel about contractions.

That's true. In the world of PCs, it was once IBM PC and it clones, but you never hear a non-IBM PC refered to as a clone any more.