.

[CriminologyProf]

.

[Spoetnik]

cur·ren·cy
ˈkərənsē/
noun
noun: currency; plural noun: currencies

    1.
    a system of money in general use in a particular country.
    "the dollar was a strong currency"
    synonyms:   money, legal tender, cash, banknotes, bills, notes, coins, coinage, specie
    "foreign currency"

If it doesn't fit the description then it's NOT a currency.

[Iranus]

cur·ren·cy
ˈkərənsē/
noun
noun: currency; plural noun: currencies

    1.
    a system of money in general use in a particular country.
    "the dollar was a strong currency"
    synonyms:   money, legal tender, cash, banknotes, bills, notes, coins, coinage, specie
    "foreign currency"

If it doesn't fit the description then it's NOT a currency.

Language is fluid and definitions can never fully capture what something evokes to the reader.  When someone refers to Bitcoin as a currency, they are referring to the use of it as an exchange of value, often making reference to it being online (a cryptocurrency), which shows its separation from "money".

I would argue that some altcoins, especially the most established ones such as Litecoin, do have relevant innovations which separate it from Bitcoin.  I think that some of these coins are even trying to be more useful as a currency - Litecoin tries to make itself more convenient for mining and accessible to the average person - the "silver to Bitcoin's gold", and Dash is trying to create instant transactions which have become more difficult on the Bitcoin network.

However, because of the competition between altcoins, none of them become widely used enough to become accepted by any merchants, even online.  This results in most of the genuine transfer of altcoins being by people who are trying to earn money by trading them as they're volatile, which ironically makes them more volatile.

[alt213]

Generally this days the purpose of altcoins is to fill the pocket of Dev/ICOs scammers with hundreds of thousands of dollars again and again....., ofcource legally.

[edmundduke]

cur·ren·cy
ˈkərənsē/
noun
noun: currency; plural noun: currencies

    1.
    a system of money in general use in a particular country.
    "the dollar was a strong currency"
    synonyms:   money, legal tender, cash, banknotes, bills, notes, coins, coinage, specie
    "foreign currency"

If it doesn't fit the description then it's NOT a currency.

Language is fluid and definitions can never fully capture what something evokes to the reader.  When someone refers to Bitcoin as a currency, they are referring to the use of it as an exchange of value, often making reference to it being online (a cryptocurrency), which shows its separation from "money".

I would argue that some altcoins, especially the most established ones such as Litecoin, do have relevant innovations which separate it from Bitcoin.  I think that some of these coins are even trying to be more useful as a currency - Litecoin tries to make itself more convenient for mining and accessible to the average person - the "silver to Bitcoin's gold", and Dash is trying to create instant transactions which have become more difficult on the Bitcoin network.

However, because of the competition between altcoins, none of them become widely used enough to become accepted by any merchants, even online.  This results in most of the genuine transfer of altcoins being by people who are trying to earn money by trading them as they're volatile, which ironically makes them more volatile.

I was reading what you were writing with great interest till i reached " Litecoin and innovations".

[Ayers]

Generally this days the purpose of altcoins is to fill the pocket of Dev/ICOs scammers with hundreds of thousands of dollars again and again....., ofcource legally.

yeah but some project are really good, they offer an alternative to bitcoin, but it true that every dev that make his alt just want for bitcoin for his pocket, vitalik sold 1M in etheruem, that prove what i'm saying they just want more bitcoin, we need rich dev so we can get rid of this problem, they would focus more on their project instead of dumping

[CraigWrightBTC]

There are some some people who use altcoins for investments on them (trading altcoins) include me,
 but there are some people use altcoins for build the projects on altcoins network it is minority,
mostly the people use altcoins for trading and make money from them.

[xtyling]

To give a chance to get rich the people who missed the bitcoin train 😢 Like me!

[raphma]

each one has their own purpose.. at least in theory...

Bitcoin at least has been used as an actual currency, with people taking it as payment and some businesses even accepting it (both online and brick-and-mortar). But I have yet to see any "Ether Accepted Here!" or "Now Accepting Dash!" signs anywhere.

this isn't a good measure.. bitcoin wasn't accepted anywhere at the start, and only now it's starting to be accepted in a few places. Maybe some day we will see other cryptos being accepted too.

[AusKipper]

Bitcoin at least has been used as an actual currency, with people taking it as payment and some businesses even accepting it (both online and brick-and-mortar). But I have yet to see any "Ether Accepted Here!" or "Now Accepting Dash!" signs anywhere.

I dont think you looked hard enough:

https://welovedash.com/
http://spenddash.com

Most shops that accept altcoins accept a variety using something like ShapeShift.io thus any coin that is on that service can be used.

Also, not yet mentioned in this thread, some alt-coins claim to (and do) offer a higher level of privacy than bitcoin

[mining1]

@criminologyprof most altcoins started as clones of bitcoins with little improvements aiming to become crypto currencies. But not only. These blockchain projects can be used for anything, from hosting a decentralized facebook with it's own ecosystem ( arguably decentralized is better against control, censor ) to more complicated things. Some of them, like ethereum, are all in one networks that can be used for almost anything you can think of. But they're in early stages so therefore the usage of such all in one projects are limited because they are yet to scale, meaning they can't handle yet very high volumes.

[Shady]

Alt-coins are coming in swarms as they become adopted by more and more people. The use is respected by most in regions or demographics who use them for specific purposes.

No matter the realization they all are indexed and will bring full use as expected by the other pots of gold coming in. Don't doubt the grow of them like BTC, just be sure to grab the right one.

[btcdevil]

As per my knowledge Altcoins are the clones which are trying to become bitcoin like value but they are not able to it as they are controlled by the developers and they have certain limit , But bitcoin is controlled by no one and it is free to use and no one can control it.

[animalroam]

Altcoins either serve as an alternative to BTC or fulfill a niche role in the cryptocurrency market. Some altcoins differ little from BTC, with different algorithms, while others add the ability to make the blockchain more dynamic, adding smart contracts or a decentralized marketplace (in the case of Syscoin). They're just like what they sound - alternative currencies to Bitcoin.

As per my knowledge Altcoins are the clones which are trying to become bitcoin like value but they are not able to it as they are controlled by the developers and they have certain limit , But bitcoin is controlled by no one and it is free to use and no one can control it.

Many of them are decentralized. You could argue that the Bitcoin protocol is controlled by a core team backed by the consensus of miners (not certain in the future though).

[n691309]

I see that some altcoins, particularly Ether and Dash, are surging in value. But I have to ask, what is the purpose of them? Just holding value?

Bitcoin at least has been used as an actual currency, with people taking it as payment and some businesses even accepting it (both online and brick-and-mortar). But I have yet to see any "Ether Accepted Here!" or "Now Accepting Dash!" signs anywhere.

So what is driving the value of these coins? Are they more like precious metals, simply being a store of value rather than being like typical fiat currencies?

Thanks.

People like so much Satoshi Nakamoto in the aspect that he is popular even though we don't know if he or they still exists, and people want to imitate him and be their own boss and have their own cryptocurrency and probably manipulate the price easier even though when it gets popular is harder than ever but they have some additional features that bitcoin doesn't have or it has but works differnetly and/or slowly.

[Ladman]

I think we will see more and more real use cases for cryptocurrencies. Right now Ethereum already powers contracts, Steem a platform for content creation. I personally like Iota very much, because it has a clear value proposition, being tailored to the machine economy - with its zero transaction fees. And that is just the beginning...

 

[batang_bitcoin]

There are alt coins that has a sole purpose for their very own service. There are gambling sites also that are accepting different alt coins not just with bitcoin. It varies on what alt coin you got and there are some that are good just for trading. As long as you can see that there is a service that will adopt that coin and use it as their main currency, it can be like steemit.

[CraigWrightBTC]

To give a chance to get rich the people who missed the bitcoin train 😢 Like me!

Hahahaha... Yes it is same with me, I don't hope get rich from altcoins but at least there are chance for getting active income from altcoins with trading, mining, and other ways, will be hard to become rich people from altcoins because the altcoins can become scam coins and taking out money and will be hard choose altcoins that will makes rich.

[coynedterm]

I see that some altcoins, particularly Ether and Dash, are surging in value. But I have to ask, what is the purpose of them? Just holding value?

Bitcoin at least has been used as an actual currency, with people taking it as payment and some businesses even accepting it (both online and brick-and-mortar). But I have yet to see any "Ether Accepted Here!" or "Now Accepting Dash!" signs anywhere.

So what is driving the value of these coins? Are they more like precious metals, simply being a store of value rather than being like typical fiat currencies?

Thanks.

This is really a complicated thing to explain because it is a complicated to explain the advatage of use of the altcoins .
Here the big profit of altcoins are the mostly to make speed money through the trading , and investing .
Here the second advantage is also is we can store our money in the online wallet secertely like the bitcoin ( cloack coin is best example where everything is private and not easy to track the transaction).
Her you need just hold and make better profit instead to think  about it throughouly .

[densuj]

I see that some altcoins, particularly Ether and Dash, are surging in value. But I have to ask, what is the purpose of them? Just holding value?

Bitcoin at least has been used as an actual currency, with people taking it as payment and some businesses even accepting it (both online and brick-and-mortar). But I have yet to see any "Ether Accepted Here!" or "Now Accepting Dash!" signs anywhere.

So what is driving the value of these coins? Are they more like precious metals, simply being a store of value rather than being like typical fiat currencies?

Thanks.

Ethereum be made for build smart contract on ethereum network and fixing what there are not in bitcoin, so do with dashcoin, bitcoin accepted on stores after couples years later and it needs time until it happen, so do with dashcoin and ethereum they are new altcoins in the world maybe 2 or 3 years later ethereum and dashcoin be accepted on stores right now they must be increase the price before be accepted.