Do lame & scam alt-coins leech BTC's fiat value?

[glendall]

What do you guys think about this? I read some people on this forum saying that the scam'alts, or scamalts as I call them, do not have a negative affect on the price of BTC.

Personally I don't see how that could be. For 9 out of 10 new coins they typically get invented and have a value for the first little while they are around, because they crash to nothingness. And there is also a lot of premining going on as well. Basically these coins just have their value established out of thin air, and they people (often the creators and preminers) will quickly convert the dumb coin into BTC which actually has value.  So the end of this brief cycle is that someone has swapped almost completely worthless coin for a reasonable amount of BTC.

Am I missing something here on how this does not contribute to the subtraction of value of BTC in fiat?  Because if this is the case, the 25+ scam coins trading these days really must be hurting BTC's value.

I don't think -- even if it was possible -- that alt coins should be banned or anything. I just wish folks would not trade for them so much.  The alt-coins should start with values like 0.0000001 and work their way up if they prove useful. Not start at 0.003 for an initial feeding frenzy and dump, then fizzling out 2 weeks later...

Open to any discussion but not dumb flames or stupidly please+thanks...

[farlack]

Yes.

1. Its taking away from day trading, you make a huge profit, and dump btc dropping the price.
2. The only ones who make the big bucks with alt coins are those who start mining first and selling their shitcoin for btc at $150/h dumping, and dropping the price.
3. shitcoin price is based off of btc alone, btc lowers, so does shit coin, btc lowers a lot, shitcoin traders dump back into btc, and then fiat, dropping the price.

The only benefit btc receives from shitcoin is you need btc to get into shitcoin. But when the shitcoin seller makes his trade, he can dump into fiat, dropping the price.


I see no benefits.

[bernard75]

Its not like there is a lot of cash in altcoins.
BTC is hurting because large investors have moved on to greener pastures.

[RagnarDanneskjold]

Alt coins (regardless of status/ valuation) add much validity & weight to btc's relative value. Think of it like the hundreds of failed automakers in the early 20th who helped establish the market so Ford could easily expand and dominate.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_defunct_automobile_manufacturers_of_the_United_States

[crumbs]

Alt coins (regardless of status/ valuation) add much validity & weight to btc's relative value.

wut

Think of it like the hundreds of failed automakers in the early 20th who helped establish the market so Ford could easily expand and dominate.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_defunct_automobile_manufacturers_of_the_United_States

Bitcoin is not the Ford of currencies -- that would be the $.  With a 1 bil. $ market cap, it's not even a Crossley.  Maybe a backyard special, encroaching on an established market.
The alts' relationship to Bitcoin is similar to Bitcoin's relationship to the dollar.  Think of Bitcoin as a tick, leaching the $ economy.  The alts then become a parasite's parasite, a tick-on-a-tick, sucking Bitcoin's blood.  From the alt perspective, this relationship is strictly parasitic & unidirectional:  The alts depend on Bitcoin, not the other way around.
Otherwise, a nice analogy.

[Voodah]

I often worry there are a s*it load of alt coins out there and most of them bring nothing new to the table...

Yet on the hand, open competition has always been good for progress.

I've got mixed feelings on this one.

[AliceWonder]

No, I don't think altcoins have any real effect on bitcoins.
Most of us don't really care. Some do them as a hobby, a hobby they buy into with bitcoins, kind of like how buying `garbage pail kids' cards was a hobby I bought into using baseball cards. It had no impact on the value of baseball cards.

That being said, it is possible playing on the coding end of alt currencies may come up with things that could improve bitcoin.

[AliceWonder]

Oh - closed source or centralized alt currencies are bad for bitcoin because they generally are run for the purpose of money laundering resulting in eventual raid and media getting the story wrong.

[Snail2]

Altcoins are fine for learning, gaining experience and starting a "new life" in the land of the cryptocurrency. I've made my first BTC from trading alts and learned all the basics from my gains and losses without any investment. If I have to do the same with BTC I would have to invest a lot of money, I would hesitate lot more before every orders and I think I would still counting my losses.
BTW sorry to say, but you guys sounds to me like bankers worrying about of this new phenomenon called bitcoin and it's potential use for scamming and money laundering:). Ironic, isn't it?