Bitcoin was a response to the financial crisis last time around. If there is (when there is) another financial crisis, then crypto prices should in theory rise as crypto becomes a bit of a safe haven from fiat. However one big problem with this is that crypto prices aren't exactly stable themselves... so I would think a financial crisis might have some positive effect on crypto, but not a huge effect. Unless we have instances of currency collapse/hyperinflation, in which case it is still probably more likely that USD will be the default safe haven.

I do think that any new financial crisis won't really be a new thing, but more of a consequence of the last one not being sufficiently fixed. The problems of last time have been papered over, but there is still huge fundamental weakness. It is this fact - that governments are either unwilling or unable to fix the problems of fiat - that will in the end lead to crypto becoming the standard system.

I would expect there's a distinction to be made here between different types of average. It's not too clear at first glance (at least to me) how the article makes its calculations.

If average savings are above zero, I would assume this refers to the mean average, which is disproportionately impacted by a relatively small number of people who have huge savings. I am making assumptions here, but I do think that the majority of people are in debt. If you took median average instead, i.e. the savings of someone who has 50% of people with more savings than them and 50% of people with less, then that person would be below zero, i.e. be in debt.

As a general point I think that different types of average should be used in different circumstances, and ideally when one is used the others should be quoted as well. Otherwise simple use of the mean average can be used to lead people into false inferences, in this case that most people have a small amount of savings, when in all likelihood most people are actually in debt and a small number of people who have huge savings pull the mean average up above zero.

Higher market confidence would I think be the trigger. The bear ended really about February, and we've seen a pick up in price since then. Mostly in BTC, yes, but alts are likely to follow once the confidence increases some more. We've seen the tentative start of it in the last week or so, with alts increasing whilst BTC stagnates a bit. Give it some more time, and I'm sure the alts will rise again.

There are plenty of good alts out thre, with really solid use cases. Yes Bitcoin dominance is really high, but an increase in BTC dominance is what we would expect after the end of a bear market, when confidence begins slowly to return. I think it's likely that alt prices will pick up once market confidence increases a bit more.

I think that volatility is just a consequence of the young market. Much of crypto is highly speculative because we are talking about an expectation of future utility, rather than current here-and-now performance. Add to this the thin markets, and you have a perfect recipe for price fluctuation. I think this will fade away as crypto matures and we begin to see coins being used in the real world.

Just because bitcoin has increased so much, it doesn't mean that random coin

• will also increase as much. Even if it is a good coin, we have to realise that crypto is so much bigger these days than it was at the very beginning when bitcoin started. Nowadays, the hype is such that a coin that has a lot of potential just won't be available for a very low price. It's extremely unlikely.

I don't think that prices will rise suddenly once 2.0 is live. Generally what happens is that developments get factored into the price as soon as they are rumoured to be likely.

ETH should be higher in price though, in my opinion. It is the underpricing of alts vs BTC that drives an alt bull. Hopefully we are in the (very) early stages of one now.

I start with a general read of the news, and then have a skim through the various ICO listing sites to see if there is anything that looks interesting. Then once I've used these sites to help me to identify some with apparently good potential , I do my own research into the project - the usual stuff, website, team, vision, white paper, potential competitors, potential legal obstacles etc.
ICO websites can be useful for an overview of what is out there, but I wouldn't use their ratings particularly.

Has altcoin season arrived? It's a tentative yes from me. We've seen a bit of movement, but we need more to be certain.
I would say everything that we need for alt season is in place. Bitcoin has risen, but now the rise has stopped and it has leveled off. Volumes are high vs historic levels. Alts are very low vs BTC, and BTC dominance is huge. Market confidence is returning, and this bodes well for alts.

Prices are based more on an expectation of what the coin will be worth in the future once it reaches its full potential. Same for every coin. ETH has potential far beyond merely being an ICO platform.

Yes ETH does look low in BTC terms. I think this is a consequence of low market confidence. Once we see confidence improve - and we are starting to see signs now - then ETH and other good alts should rise vs BTC.

Yes we've had an alt dip that has been market-wide, and ETH has suffered alongside everything else. But I think we are now starting to see a recovery taking shape. BTC looks to be relatively stable now, and alts have been increasing. I think this points to increasing confidence in crypto as a whole, with people now feeling more comfortable branching out to alts, particularly as they look like bargain prices now with BTC dominance so high.

The movements of the last few days look promising for alts. BTC seems to be stable now around $10k, and alts had a big surge, led by ETH. Now they have fallen a bit as inevitably happens after a decent rise... but they are recovering already and look set for further gains.

I think XRP has a bright future. I used to be skeptical, thinking that people would use Ripple solutions without using XRP, but since reading up on it I now understand that XRP will be used.

Not sure about #1 crypto, BTC has a huge lead and will likely keep that lead for a long time.

XRP can absolutely be a success though, perhaps moving to #2 in cap depending on ETH (on how long it takes for smart contract adoption to develop in the real world).

There are tentative signs now that an ETH bull run is starting, with other alts following. ETH is up 20% in the last day. BTC hasn't really moved. XRP started later but now has a similar daily increase to ETH.

It is starting to look like there might be an alt run starting already. Very early days though, so obviously it can change, but looks quite promising at the moment.

I don't really see the point about bitcoin at $10k being too expensive because people are not willing to pay $10k to buy in. You can just buy 0.1 BTC with $1k. Individual coin price is irrelevant unless considered alongside supply (market cap).

As for alts being a bargain compared to BTC, yes I would agree they look under-priced. However I think this is a consequence of the market. A lot of it is based on expectation of future utility. It is largely confidence-driven. BTC is the safest and most resilient crypto, which is why it rises first. Alts should follow once confidence has risen sufficiently. We may be starting to see that now with the rises in ETH and XRP over the last couple of days.

The decision is all about how much risk you are willing to accept. Bitcoin is the safest bet, but alts, particularly low cap alts, are a lot more like just throwing the dice and hoping for the best. The lower you go in market cap, the higher the potential reward, but also the higher the risk.

Personally I would say go for BTC, with some ETH. But then that is based on my own limited appetite for risk.

I've been concerned for a while about the impact on privacy coins as we move further along the road to mainstream adoption of crypto. A consequence of travel on that road is that there is increased government scrutiny, and increasing attempts to regulate and control. Privacy coins represent the worst fears of governments and regulatory bodies, so it does seem logical that these are the coins that are hit hardest.

I would go with ETH because it has the most potential of any alt out there (in my opinion). Smart contracts can transform the way that the economy functions. It is one of the strongest use cases that crypto has.

As an aside, I don't understand the direct price comparison that people make sometimes, e.g. coin A costs £50 but coin B costs $100, so coin A is better to buy. Not sure if you're making this point here, but I don't get it. The price of a coin means nothing without also considering its supply. As an extreme example, if coin A above has a supply of 1 billion coins, but coin B has a supply of 1 million, that makes the $50 coin A huge, whilst coin B is the low cap underdog that offers the potential for growth. Switch marketcap the other way, and positions reverse. Price alone means very little.

I think it's oversold, too. It is just followed the other alts in dropping in price, but it now looks ridiculously low against BTC.

ETH is now (last couple of days) starting to show some upwards movement independent of the rest of the market, which is encouraging. There aren't many coins that are strong enough to trigger an alt bull run, but ETH does have that strength.

Bitcoin is still the must-have, obviously. It is more resistant to price drops than other coins, and it is also generally a Bitcoin surge that starts off any new bull market. Beyond that the coins obviously become more speculative as we go down the list in market cap order. I would say that ETH is another must have. It is a very strong project with huge potential.