A warning about Alt-Coins

[axisofevil35]

Most Alt coins are completely pointless and just poor replicas of what's already out there with little to no improvement.

And none of them have offered anything in the way of major improvements over BTC.

isn't the Diff level / hash rate the only reason(s) peope mine them?

LTC is an exception, but there is profitability in new alts, pump and dump like FTC? pls tell me if i'm wrong? 

[maco]

Tysat is just making some pointers about the industry and where it's going in the crypto-world! Just be wise about how you manage your time. Do not overwhelm yourself with the "lets do it to get rich" with alt-coins. Use your time wisely, and do your research! The second best coin is Litecoin, so in my opinion, if you are going anywhere.. it should be with Litecoin and Bitcoin for now.

Thanks for the post and sharing of the tips to avoid wallet steelers. You are right, be careful of any special downloads or 'get-rich' by downloading something. It's all BS!

Almost all of the alt-coins out there are going to be a waste of time.  They're being created to take advantage of people who get super excited about different things and then get pumped and dumped.

Be careful about wasting time with too many alt coins.

Be careful about downloading files, seems like there's plenty of wallet stealers around hidden as alt coin miners.
Seen some more of this recently, so wanted to highlight the point.

Here's some good info from later in the thread:

1) Don't just trust the status of a member, anyone can write 500 posts and be a hero member in a short period. This just means that he invested some time on his membership. He can always decide that a profitable scam will be a good payment for his time.
2) Never deal with anyone without doing a search in the forum with his nickname, in order to check if he has scam accusations.
3) Ask for his coin address and always search it on blockchain.info or www.cryptocoinexplorer.com to verify if his address has the amounts he is claiming.
4) Be very suspicious about proposals well under market price or if he accepts your proposal under market price with no negotiation.
5) Look for the reputation of the member (his successful trades, in the form of vouches from the other party on the deal).
6) Even if he has some reputation, never send all the money in one transfer: send one first very small tranche (0.1 btc might be a good start) and wait for his payment. Send a second little higher tranche and wait again, etc. Small increments, because he might decide to pay you the first and second, to scam a bigger tranche. Always suspect if he doesn't accept to trade in small tranches.
7) If he has no reputation (including most cases when he is a newbie or a Jr.), even small tranches are a risk. Better use an escrow system, like the one of bitmit.net, or a trusted member, or you might need to send over 10 very small tranches. It can be annoying, but loosing your money will be more.
8] For big amounts always use an escrow system, unless the member has an excellent reputation.

Since this thread is a sticky, I decided to post this here. Any moderator or member feel free to move, copy or improve these rules at will.

[tysat]

Tysat is just making some pointers about the industry and where it's going in the crypto-world! Just be wise about how you manage your time. Do not overwhelm yourself with the "lets do it to get rich" with alt-coins. Use your time wisely, and do your research! The second best coin is Litecoin, so in my opinion, if you are going anywhere.. it should be with Litecoin and Bitcoin for now.

Thanks for the post and sharing of the tips to avoid wallet steelers. You are right, be careful of any special downloads or 'get-rich' by downloading something. It's all BS!

Hooray, someone who gets it!

[maco]

Heh, when tysat talks, I listen

Lately, I've seen thousands upon thousands of videos with new YouTube accounts just spamming a video about downloading their FREE BITCOIN software,
which was pretty apparent, there are 'open-doors' that lead you into the path of a black loophole willing to claim their new target..  

Stay away from downloads as described on YouTube ^ in fact, I can't think of one thing you really
'need' to download other than the official miners softwares found here (eg: bitcoin-qt/bitcoind, cgminer, etc.)

tysat, Can you think of any other reason to download something other than the official mining tools?

Tysat is just making some pointers about the industry and where it's going in the crypto-world! Just be wise about how you manage your time. Do not overwhelm yourself with the "lets do it to get rich" with alt-coins. Use your time wisely, and do your research! The second best coin is Litecoin, so in my opinion, if you are going anywhere.. it should be with Litecoin and Bitcoin for now.

Thanks for the post and sharing of the tips to avoid wallet steelers. You are right, be careful of any special downloads or 'get-rich' by downloading something. It's all BS!

Hooray, someone who gets it!

[goldenaxe]

There are many alternative currencies. Bitcoin has the advantage that it has value in trade online through a growing number of outlets and of course silkroad.

[velkyprachy]

alt coins is bullshit. Most of then has low exchange rate and profitability is poor.

[101Official]

alt coins is bullshit. Most of then has low exchange rate and profitability is poor.

Not necessarily. As with bitcoins, altcoins are worth what someone is willing to pay for them.  Who knows, maybe Paris Hilton will be found to be mining hilt-coins, and all of a sudden everyone will want one.

[bitminerforyou]

So what is the best alt coin to invest in right now?

[kevindeangelis]

So what is the best alt coin to invest in right now?

Take a quick look at www.WhereToMine.com and you'll see some on there.  It might help you in deciding which one to take interest in.

[leet1]

thankx nice post 

[Cryptathlon]

Take a quick look at www.WhereToMine.com and you'll see some on there.  It might help you in deciding which one to take interest in.

Thanks!  Another site for the bookmarks!

[plurapool]

Just updated plurapool.com and added BTC, YAC, and TRC [PPLNS, P2Pool]

currently hosting BTC, YAC, WDC, DGC, TRC, LTC, NVC, and BQC. all are at 1% fee (except for YAC which is at 2%). 0 transaction fees.


for more information, goto...
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=217232.0
or
http://plurapool.com

[jlsminingcorp]

Almost all of the alt-coins are there are going to be a waste of time.  They're being created to take advantage of people who get super excited about different things and then get pumped and dumped.

Be careful about wasting time with too many alt coins.

I bet thats the kind of thinking many had about Bitcoins in the beginning but look where it is now. I am not bashing you in anyway, I just feel like qualifying your statement. People should really research what their going into because maybe one of the Alt-coins will have a boom like BTC.

I would be interested to hear
which coins more exactly - you think -
will see a boom like Bitcoins ?

Which one(s) is(are) your favorit(s) ?

is it worth mining Namecoin, while Bitcoin (Guild pool)?

It doesn't hurt to do this, but you'll not increase your profit by much. If I were you I wouldn't make it a key criteria for choosing a pool, but if your pool supports merged mining then why not.

[elambert]

Anyone know if there is a qt wallet for phenix coin / mac? Thanks.

[eve]

Take a quick look at www.WhereToMine.com and you'll see some on there.  It might help you in deciding which one to take interest in.

Thanks!  Another site for the bookmarks!

Yes a good website for more mining infor

[operaficionado]

devcoin is suxx

Only if "Is Suxx" means "Is AWESOME"

Haha, agreed. I started writing for devtome about two months ago and I'm going long on devcoin. I've sold a bit for bitcoin but I'm definitely holding fast on at least half of my earnings from my shares.

FinShaggy, you're killing it right now! How do you write so much?

[stealtheh]

Thanks for the info. I'll be extra careful in the future now!

[BlazinBeaches]

Awesome tips and awesome forum!   

[Lemming]

This thread was the primary information source on alt coins for me: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=134179.0

I like the idea of PPcoin very much, being an ecologic alternative to Bitcoin. They still have mining, like Bitcoin and all other alts, and this will consume as much electricity. But when all coins are mined, the power needs will drop significantly. The creators devised a very clever way to record transactions in the block chain without the need to do all the calculations which are done when mining.

Website, including the white paper with a detailed explanation: http://www.ppcoin.org/

[tlo]

What do you thin about eMulah (EMU)? See https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=220530.0

Seems to be the first (?) altcoint that is not just a bitcoin-clone.