Evolution at work, BTC was the 1st
successful crypto, but others unsuccessful cryptos came first.
https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/quick-history-cryptocurrencies-bbtc-bitcoin-1397682630BTC main evolution is it's Blockchain , which the previous ones did not have.
BTC current design can not handle the amount of transactions of being a world monetary system, it just can't keep up with the transaction volume.
Supplemental Systems like Lightening Network are being designed to try and make BTC better , but time will tell.
Alt coins are just the next step in evolution many will fail, but the strong ideas will survive.
Example:
DASH evolutionary step is being anonymous and a masternode system, where people hold coins and receive some of the generated coins for maintaining a masternode in a PoW network.
The fact that many coins have to be held in an escow type situation causes a decrease in the available coins which allows for a higher price.
Strickly Supply & Demand and some Manipulated Hype is how most coins find their price, although sometimes the hype is in the reverse direction and stunts the price of a coin instead of helping it.
BTC is PoW, Proof of Work,
Coins like
ZEIT are Proof of Stake, PoS , I prefer this evolutionary step as it gives everyone a chance to earn more coins and not be completely beholding to the ASICS miners.
Plus
ZEIT has a blockspeed of 30 seconds, meaning I can send it to someone and they receive it 8 minutes before BTC finds it 1st block, since BTC blockspeed is 10 minutes.
Other evolutionary steps are Hybrid coins that are PoS & PoW, or Ripple's Ledger Style system which is not a blockchain, or Monero's ring central system style blockchain where no one can see the transactions amount or sender or receiver unless given a view key.
Dogecoin is cheaper to send than Litecoin, but Both are cheaper to send than BTC, price conscience will prefer the cheaper option to send with faster blockspeeds.
LTC 2.5 minutes Blockspeed, Doge has 1 minute blockspeed
Everyone is different , so everyone has needs for different specs.
One Size does not Fit all when it comes to Crypto.