The ALT currency FTC CNC, collaspsing BTC?

[Melbustus]

A fun social experiment might be to do something like the following:

1) Announce the creation of PnDcoin, which is 4x FeatherCoin or something...
2) Announce that the P stands for "Pump" and that the D stands for "Dump".
3) Announce a viable staged marketing plan for the coin, stating very clearly what channels you're going to hit when, etc...
4) Outline a plan of when to sell out to maximize profits.


I'll bet people would still jump in, on the greater-fool reasoning... After all, many of Pirate's "investors" knew that it was a ponzi, but figured they'd just get out before the next guy.

Making the pump-n-dump process and plan as explicit as possible up-front and seeing what kind of activity results would be amusing to watch.

This kind of rhetoric is becoming really tiresome. It applies the same exact way to BTC as it does to its forks. That it was first doesn't mean squat.
The principle remains the same.

Thought experiment: If two coins have exactly the same properties, but one has existed longer and has significantly more adoption, in terms of users, merchants, financial services, etc, which has more utility? This an obvious network effect. I assume you're now going to tell me that the network effect is irrelevant; that's fine, please educate me.

For the record, I think other coins that bring new features to the table (eg, PPCoin, Namecoin) are genuinely interesting and have a place, and perhaps an innovative alt may ultimately dominate. I just see nothing interesting or compelling about coins that are direct forks with some constants changed, either intellectually or from a market perspective.

[ElectricMucus]

A fun social experiment might be to do something like the following:

1) Announce the creation of PnDcoin, which is 4x FeatherCoin or something...
2) Announce that the P stands for "Pump" and that the D stands for "Dump".
3) Announce a viable staged marketing plan for the coin, stating very clearly what channels you're going to hit when, etc...
4) Outline a plan of when to sell out to maximize profits.


I'll bet people would still jump in, on the greater-fool reasoning... After all, many of Pirate's "investors" knew that it was a ponzi, but figured they'd just get out before the next guy.

Making the pump-n-dump process and plan as explicit as possible up-front and seeing what kind of activity results would be amusing to watch.

This kind of rhetoric is becoming really tiresome. It applies the same exact way to BTC as it does to its forks. That it was first doesn't mean squat.
The principle remains the same.

Thought experiment: If two coins have exactly the same properties, but one has existed longer and has significantly more adoption, in terms of users, merchants, financial services, etc, which has more utility? This an obvious network effect. I assume you're now going to tell me that the network effect is irrelevant; that's fine, please educate me.

For the record, I think other coins that bring new features to the table (eg, PPCoin, Namecoin) are genuinely interesting and have a place, and perhaps an innovative alt may ultimately dominate. I just see nothing interesting or compelling about coins that are direct forks with some constants changed, either intellectually or from a market perspective.

Yes I think that innovation is an important factor for alt-coins, but that doesn't mean they do not have a place. And most importantly they are no more a pump&dump scheme than BTC already is.
There are some coins with malicious features like pre-mine, taxes or else (Solidcoin, Freicoin, ...) which should be avoided, but other than that they have their place, if only for a short time.

I get the point of things like feathercoin, china coin, ru coin,.. aren't particularly useful if they do not include any new unique featureset. They are often short lived see IXcoin and I0Coin but that doesn't mean they have to.

[markm]

They are often short lived see IXcoin and I0Coin but that doesn't mean they have to.

Ixcoin is still humming along just fine, it even is in the merged mining mix at BitParking's merged mining pool and is traded on VIrcurex.

I0coin is still humming along fine too despite having been dropped from BitParking's merged mining pool and only being traded over the counter and in Open Transactions.

-MarkM-

[Walter Rothbard]

We have a situation where people will jump on any new coin because they believe price will go up. As a result, price does go up - its a self fulfilling prophecy. But what will the end result be? Will this effect of dilution/inflation simply continue

Nobody has infinite wealth, so obviously this could not continue without limit.  There will be an equilibrium.

[Melbustus]

Yes I think that innovation is an important factor for alt-coins, but that doesn't mean they do not have a place. And most importantly they are no more a pump&dump scheme than BTC already is.
There are some coins with malicious features like pre-mine, taxes or else (Solidcoin, Freicoin, ...) which should be avoided, but other than that they have their place, if only for a short time.

I get the point of things like feathercoin, china coin, ru coin,.. aren't particularly useful if they do not include any new unique featureset. They are often short lived see IXcoin and I0Coin but that doesn't mean they have to.

I may have to think about this more, but I suppose my contention is with your implied assertion that the direct clone alts are identical to bitcoin in terms of their value to humanity (which I'm getting from your statement that "they are no more a pump&dump scheme than BTC already is."). I contend that the first coin to offer a certain featureset adds value to humanity, while the next one with that exact featureset adds so little value that it can be reasonably approximated as adding no value. This is pretty much because the first one to provide the featureset gets the network effect and therefore imparts the value.

There's perhaps an argument for diversification and redundancy, though if coin B is a direct clone of coin A, they'll have exactly the same vulnerabilities....the only "backup" function might be with respect to the people who are developing one versus the other...