Bitcoin Forum

Hey there,


can somone explain me the purpose of altcoins, please ?

From my point of view i cant understand why you should support something other than bitcoin.

According to https://www.coingecko.com bitcoin has a MktCap of ฿16,118,987. the 2.best one is ether with ฿1,031,757 (i could understand mining that, it has some value)
But already the third one LiteCoin has ฿208,064 which is only 1,2% of bitcoin.

So why would someone invest in altcoins ? Are there some big issues with bitcoin (or big advantages of any altcoin ?) or just a lot of people wanna invent their own crypotcurrencies ?

I see 4 main reasons:

1) Some altcoins like Dash have built in privacy features

2) Transaction costs for Bitcoin keep going up, this is already becoming a problem with my dealings in 3rd world countries. Altcoins can have a much higher rate of transactions without fee pressure.

3) Some altcoins like Ethereum are turing complete which means you can actually run some types of programs on their blockchain. I would stay away unless you have some specific use case though.

4) Testing new ideas like Myriad's 5 different POWs.

Is it bad to explore something new?
Bitcoin has opened a lot of opportunities)

In my opinion there are several reasons for this:
1) Now Bitcoin is worth about $ 1,000 and capability for multiple profit is much smaller with altcoins.
2) New technologies and possibility always attracted large numbers of people.
3) Problems with privacy in Bitcoin transactions.

I'd say:

80% are trying to get a piece of the cryptocurrency cake; somehow create money out of nothing: Copy/paste some coins code, get people involved and try to make as much money as possible, before the whole thing goes tulips.

15% 10% are trying to be "the next bitcoin", classic digital money, believing, that faster blocktimes and more efficient PoW/PoS algorithms can beat network effect.

5% Actually have unique ideas how to utilize blockchain beyond value transfer, which makes them more of a kind of tokens than altcoins as in "alternative money".

EDIT: I forgot:

5% try to look like they have unique ideas but either have no idea on how to achieve their goals, or don't plan on developing anything, because they are scams.

Bitcoin has a lot of problems:

1. centralization of mining behind the great firewall of China
2. centralization of trading in China (which is an authoritarian state with capital controls)
3. small block size means it can't handle more than 250,000 transactions a day, whereas the VISA network manages to cope with billions
4. slow confirmation times - you sometimes wait 40 minutes or longer for your transaction to confirm
5. high fees, the fees are now bigger than banks or credit cards


Alts are an attempt to solve all these problems.One day one will, and will overtake bitcoin.

Was there not just another topic about this?  Altcoins are for buying bitcoin.  And for gambling and trading, that's about it.  In the other thread I said you can't spend altcoins anywhere because no one accepts them.  There are very few places that take coins like doge, dash, and litecoin.  If a business accepts crypto at all, it's usually just bitcoin.  I don't see any real use for 99.99% of altcoins.

BTC is a Failure and an evolutionary dead end from a Technical Standpoint.

The successors to BTC will be found in the Alt coin community, that are faster more energy efficient and higher transaction capacity.

The purpose of Alts is to battle each other to see who the next crypto champion becomes.


 8)

With more cheaper coin and they can grab more profit with the same amount, totally the highest price of btc makes everyone are so difficult to trading it and especially about the middle until the lower trader and they're not having the sufficient amount to trade btc.

altcoin = ALTERNATIVE coin

This is to strengthen and make the crypto currency more popular and with a lot of options,this technology is innovating as it progresses as you can see there are a lot of legit altcoins coming up with new innovation and features like Burst,etherium monero and some other good coins and this is not to compete with bitcoin but to support it's usage.

Yes , it will really matter , because BTC price is too high already for the majority of the world.
Transaction Fees keep increasing. Price & speed wise LTC already beats it hands down.

If I have to use my crystal ball, another alt's market cap will be matching BTC within 3½ years after it's last big pump.
And not long after BTC will begin it decline to nothingness.

Reputation = Hype,  Hype fades as reality sets in

Most ordinary people don't know about crypto coins , BTC or otherwise. ;)


 8)

I would like to express to anyone here in this thread about my opinion regarding about the purpose of altcoins. As we going to look at it literally, altcoins for me is created to buy bitcoin in all exchange platform, also altcoin was made to buy altcoins too aside from bitcoin. Because obviously, bitcoin has a high price value than altcoins, but altcoins can be a tools for us to buy bitcoin. Tha''s what I thought.

Because people like freedom to choose different options. There is no single coin that will be all things to all people.

I was thinking the same thing too.
The noobs here really do re-post the same simple questions over & over.
And many don't read the Sticky topic "titles" either. (AKA: MOD Note on Speculation Topics)

I think the issue is whether or not Bitcoin can & will be changed later to address the issues brought up..
such as slower confirmation wait times and fee's.
I started using Doge coin occasionally to get coins from one exchange to another way back (years ago) for example.
The cost of moving *small amounts* of coins with Bitcoin is high.
I chose Doge because the crypto scene decided to give it liquidity. (support)
And yeah sometimes it back fired and i took a loss doing that LOL

I mean Bitcoin was / is Open Source code.
It got popular so... bring on the clones.
This always happens on the web.. predictable really.

99.99% of altcoins are used for trading on exchanges for profits.. traded against Bitcoin.
Because Bitcoin can be easily exchanged to FIAT (real paper money etc)

I have often said, this crypto shit is the easiest way in human history to make money.

PS:
@Flyskyhigh
People "Profiteers" like a lawless shady sketchy environment to do deals to get ROI'z.
Don't feed us all the freedom speech ..don't kid yourself this is not about ideology.

My answer is all of the above,people dreams to become another satoshi even though their coin is just another bitcoin clone,I'd like to add that there are huge money to be made from creating a new coin and adopting it and people knows this fact.

In my thought, it is primarily because there are a lot of people who wants to become a crypto millionaire like those who became instantly rich because of bitcoins. Another one is some people just create shit coins with the intent of only scamming people for their money, this now has become the new ponzi scheme we all know. Everybody should be careful with alt coins as they are a very dangerous thing.

Actually there is no use of altcoin because no body will accepts altcoin in any country, the only use i found in altcoin is the person who cannot able to invest more into bitcoin can invest in altcoin and there is possibility that he can make more bitcoin by selling altcoin at higher price.

This is like someone asking, "please explain the purpose of automobiles?" Consumers need choices, and competition brings about better products. Just imagine if every car traveling down your street was a Ford Escort.

The bitcoin protocol is just like the invention of the combustion engine. Bitcoin is the Ford, and altcoins are the various makes and models powered by this protocol.

Make no mistake. Fiat currencies have been obsoleted. All existing capital will be transferred into cryptocurrencies sooner or later. The banks of the future will manage the private keys of their customers. :o

I'd say the car analogy is a little weak.
All cars sold in dealerships actually drive LOL
And if it don't you bring it back for a fucking refund  :D

The point of a currency is to be USED as a currency.
Saying FIAT can be substituted for an Altcoin is silly bullshit and we all know it.. you can't !

All you guys here defending them are left with one simple played old cliche'd retort.. ONE DAY !

..and clearly they will not all be used in a major way (which is the very definition of the word currency)

It's simple, if it is not used by a majority then it is NOT a currency.

Summary:
Many of us admit 99% of these are all bullshit.
And also 99% who insist their coin they are backing / shilling for is the legit one.

To me that is like seeing 5,000+ Religions listed on Wikipedia few years back..
And noticing they are all claiming to be the one true one with the one real god.

Optimism is rampant in Crypto that much i know.
But i wonder at what point do these die-hards give up ?
When do you pack it in and realize.. hey, know what ? My coin has failed.
When ? 1 year ? 2 ? 10 years ? When ?

..one day  ::)

PS:
I bought in 2012 $423,000 worth of Tenebrix.
I put the wallet.dat on a USB drive and put it in a bank safe deposit box
..that is what i am leaving for my grandkids when i die.
In 2032 they should be worth 33 million dollars right ?  :D  ;D  8)

these days altcoins have a clear definition which also defines their true purpose, they are copy paste of bitcoin and other crypto currency codes with changing a couple of lines in order to make something (coins) out of nothing and then sell those things for real money (bitcoin) and enjoy the profit.

The purpose of altcoins explained in 71 seconds ....

https://puu.sh/twDIU/410b31278b.jpg (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVeq2rdZyPw)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVeq2rdZyPw

I agree that most of the Altcoins are forked codes of Bitcoin but that's just at the development stage, they rather tend to serve other purposes that help drive Bitcoin on. For instance a there's the need for competition on the exchanges to assist trading and without Altcoins Bitcoin cannot do it all alone except against other fiats. Secondly as we are left with a few Bitcoins to mine (5 million) and looking at the current and ever increasing difficulty rate of Bitcoin mining it is just fair to have Altcoins which can be mined with low hardware capabilities and sold for bitcoins.

I think the main purpose of altcoin is to give us alternative when we feel that bitcoin is not for us I mean if we feel that bitcoin is boring or unsecured and etc we can go to something else that is much more appealing to us , it our right to choose and altcoins enables us to have that right

Outside bitcoin world, I believe everything created is done for a purpose and for an end to meet but its on this forum I have seen Alt created without a purpose but the developers will claim they did it for a purpose but that purpose is what I dont get because for what purpose is a coin created and immediately the ICO is over, we no longer see the developer again... He has moved on to create another porposeless coin...

This is the same as how I look at it. Want to create something that might end up like bitcoin or somehow even half would do. But still it is created and most of it just vanish. It takes just a week and they wont last. I dont know if it is lack support or just the developer had given up. One more thing that I am seeing is that the altcoin are making bitcoin look bigger.

I think that alt coin was made from its name itself alternative coin meaning if we can't afford even 1 bitcoin at least there is an alternative coin which we can use as an alternative to buy aside from bitcoin. It is much cheaper than bitcoin that is why we also need it so bitcoin will continue to rise like a king.

The only purpose of alts is to shake down hamsters, pick up their bitcoins and inflate them with useless alts  :D

A purpose that most of the people on these forums fail to see is an altcoin focusing on meeting a specific niche market, like Gulden for the Netherlands, Doge for a friendly intro to crypto and ArtByte supporting artists & musicians.

All three of these coins have very active communities, which brings real user growth and they do not have to compete with Bitcoin.





DISCLAIMER: I am the founder of ArtByte, so of course I am biased. If anyone is interested in why a community based coin works, here is a presentation I made about a year ago: http://slideshare.net/MikeCabaniss/artbytepresentation-51478350

Announce Thread:  ArtByte Announce Thread (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=503131.0)
Website: ArtByte.me (http://ArtByte.me)
Music Download Site: music.artbyte.me (http://music.artbyte.me)
Pool Server:pool.artbyte.me (http://pool.artbyte.me)

http://img.memecdn.com/what-amp-039-s-wrong-with-that-hamsters-today_o_4419307.jpg


It is about fleecing lunch money from children and naive idiots in a corrupt lawless immoral greedy joke of a crypto scene.

Any questions ?

Won't you be a life time bag holder (doomed to dump for a loss one day) Today ?

Don't worry your bags will magically become super duper valuable if you come to Bitcointalk and post shill comments and cry FUD and Troll all the time !

Crying FUD for bucks $$$ is big business !

Yes, You are right. you have hit my thoughts. it's the same as gold , silver and bronze. we have many choices to use them.

Saying the truth bitcoin does not have all necessary things and it not complete at all so many people have 'invented' new coins for new things.

For example ICONOMI does offer new things in the cryptoworld and it's good to test new ideas, improve the privacy of the users using this coin.

Transaction fees mostly are much cheaper that bitcoin but this is a small reason to move from bitcoin, but also for trading this is great.

this may have been true once. specially in the early days that bitcoin came out but these days with these new coins i have indeed lost my faith in altcoins to "invent" anything new and good. sometimes a new project comes out that seems to be good but after a while of checking i see it is the same pump and dump as always.


the fees are lower mostly because the block rewards are high and difficulty is not high enough to make mining that hard. also it is low because the price of altcoins are low.
also they are lower because if they were high nobody would have send anything.

It's not just you, most of us have lose our faith to them because they invent some unnecessary things (at least for the current/next year(s))

But saying the truth some of them have good innovating and have a better privacy (sometimes worse sometimes better) for their community.

The block reward don't know if it is higher but mostly it is less and some do not offer block reward (for example ICN?)

Altcoins have diverse purposes according to their nature. For me there is four categories : the totally new ones, the shitcoins, the dedicated ones and the one developper ones. The first ones' purpose is explicit. The shitcoins have no purpose. The dedicated ones exist to sustain a need, like most of the gaming-oriented ones. The one developper ones are the altcoins where there is a single talentuous developper. The purpose of these ones is to let this guy use its talent. Innovations generally come from the last group.