So, as some people (but obviously not very many!) may have guessed, CRC is really the Bitcoin Testnet- which is clearly the best "Alt-Coin" out there.
Why Bitcoin Testnet: The Bitcoin testnet is an underutilized chain that was intended to provide a space where developers can explore with Bitcoin without using "real money". Since the advent of "Testnet in a box"
http://sourceforge.net/projects/bitcoin/files/Bitcoin/testnet-in-a-box/ where you can build your own private testnet, the bitcoin testnet itself is fairly quiet, which makes it perfect for testing not just technical experiments but social and economic experiments as well.
Technically what does the Bitcoin Testnet have that other alt coins don't? What makes it "Different" from bitcoin and other Alt-Coins?Multi-Signature Transactions : It's been enabled in bitcoin for awhile now, but people still aren't making much use of what is an incredibly important feature.
OP_CODE scripting: Smart property, complex transactions, scripting with money? Features too bleeding edge to be allowed on the bitcoin network are enabled in the testnet. It's a real place for experimentation. Litecoin doesn't have them, nor does Terracoin, nor does any of the other coins. Here's a list:
http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/5884/are-all-the-coin-networks-consistent-in-which-script-actions-are-permitted-and/7472#7472What social experiments?There are some features enabled on Bitcoin testnet, Scripting for example with the OP_Codes, that have incredible potential for bitcoin.
Smart Property:
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Smart_Property objects with ownership determined by the blockchain.
Scripts:
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Script. Send and receive money based on logical evaluations.
How people might use or abuse these potentials is currently a big question mark, but as long as very few people are interacting on a chain with these features enabled, it's difficult to see what creative individuals might come up with.
Are testnet Bitcoins hard to mine?Not currently. You can solo mine them quite easily, thousands in a day if you would like. There are also faucets where you can pick up a few coins for free.
A Tutorial is here:
https://forums.butterflylabs.com/showwiki.php?title=Tutorials:Solo+Mining+For+Testnet+BitcoinsBut if we all jump on testnet does that ruin it for everyone else?No, because you can run "Testnet in a box" anyone has the ability to start their own private testnet if there is something they want to experiment with that needs a predictable low difficulty.
Can we sell Testnet bitcoins?You could if you really wanted to, although the bitcoin dev's tend to look down on this and have restarted the chain more then once in the past. Of course, nothing stops people from running the current version of testnet and forking bitcoin to keep the chain going and merging future bitcoin updates. It's up to the users.
But would selling Testnet Bitcoins be wrong?Some people claim that its wrong to sell testnet bitcoins- but I disagree. Testnet is for experimentation and for developers. If you're developing an exchange, or a new type of bitcoin exchange, testnet is a perfect place to experiment with this. You can't use testnet in a box to experiment with building types of exchanges, because no one else would be on your chain and you would never learn about real user interaction. You can't experiment very usefully with OP_CODES where your money is linked up to a script if there is no one who values it. In my own opinion, testnet needs to have some sort of economy in order to be truly useful in terms of developing bigger and better bitcoin applications.
So how is this better then *coinIt's better because it is IS Bitcoin. The knowledge gained from working with Bitcoin testnet is both directly applicable to Bitcoin today and to the Bitcoin of tomorrow. If you are new to crypto, Bitcoin testnet gives you a chance to learn about mining, about building applications about interacting with an active and responsive DEV team.
How many coins do I get per block?Testnet is just like bitcoin before the block halving. You get 50 coins per block.
Awesome, how do I get started?!?!?!Resources:
