Why so many

[TheTribesman]

First post. Looking forward to the new digital economy!

I've been reading a lot about cryptocurrencies recently (and researching them). I was wondering why there are so many? Do they all have individual uses? Are they all geographic in nature? There seems to be more than is required for a cybereconomy.

[Sythyn]

Are you trying to say why are there so many alt coins?

[Jacce]

I guess many people wanted their own currency. Most of the alt coins are worthless though.

[shiro100]

yes, for now it is reliable to concentrate mostly on BTC & LTC...

[Sindelar1938]

Stick with btc and ltc

The rest just exists for speculation

[TheTribesman]

Personally I think 2 is enough. A main currency (possibly BTC) and a tracker (possibly LTC) to keep it honest.

It could even be the other way round, where LTC is the main currency, and BTC (though first to emerge) is the tracker keeping LTC honest. LTC seems to be more suited for use as a digital currency (from what I've read). BTC seems more speculative than LTC.

I think that if there are too many that survive then all we've done is transferred the old banking systems (where every country has it's own currency that can fluctuate against the others) into the digital realm.

And what would be the point of that??

[SSL1978]

First post. Looking forward to the new digital economy!

I've been reading a lot about cryptocurrencies recently (and researching them). I was wondering why there are so many? Do they all have individual uses? Are they all geographic in nature? There seems to be more than is required for a cybereconomy.

A number of alt-coins (such as LTC, NMC) are created because some developers wanted to add more feature to the world of cryptocurrency.
99% of alt-coins are created because some guys had a great dream of getting rich and becoming billionaires (just like Satoshi).

[Morbo]

99% of alt-coins are created because some guys had a great dream of getting rich and becoming billionaires (just like Satoshi).

how much bitcoin was already mined when Satoshi released the bitcoin client to the public?

[sharpiedeluxe]

I like PPC as my favorite altcoin.

[Creative83]

I don't see having many alt coins as a negative things, or?

[DeathAndTaxes]

99% of alt-coins are created because some guys had a great dream of getting rich and becoming billionaires (just like Satoshi).

how much bitcoin was already mined when Satoshi released the bitcoin client to the public?

0 (well technically the 50 BTC in the genesis block but due to a client bug they are unspendable)

[bitcoinlovesme]

Its just competition, everyone wants to be in. But some are genuine improvement. And havn't you heard competition is good!!

[Creative83]

I agree with statement, It's always good to have many choices, for now I think BTC and LTC are the most solid ones and also I think there are many good altcoins around, just days will prove which one will be able to survive.

[Alice_C]

What characteristics should the alt coin have to be widely accepted and successful (or at least number 3 after bitcoin and litecoin)?

If you have any ideas, please, share them here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=346068.msg3709017#msg3709017

I'm doing my master thesis resaerch on this theme, so I will be very thankful for your opinions and help.

[N4D3B337Z]

Its just competition, everyone wants to be in. But some are genuine improvement. And havn't you heard competition is good!!

I whole-heartedly agree w/ you on that. Competition is great.
However I have an inkling that maybe one of the "Copycat Coins" or "CloneCoin" will make a substantial improvement to the Crypto currency infrastructure and render BTC "semi" obsolete but not completely. like DSL did 56k or cable did DSL. Maybe Altcoins will further enhance the anonymity aspects of Cryptocurrency as a whole being that most if not all of them have some sort of an exchange that lets you convert coin to other coin formats and fiats. This essentially extends bitcoin functionality, thus rendering competition as GREAT.

[niothor]

Clones always pop-up when something gets to the public.
Ebay copycats , Facebook copycats.
Also creating a crypto is quite easy and many think they are going to be rich with it by pre-mining it.

[Creative83]

What characteristics should the alt coin have to be widely accepted and successful (or at least number 3 after bitcoin and litecoin)?

If you have any ideas, please, share them here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=346068.msg3709017#msg3709017

I'm doing my master thesis resaerch on this theme, so I will be very thankful for your opinions and help.

This list will be a real long one I think, But I also would like to know which altcoins could be the next right after BTC and LTC.

[rammy2k2]

First post. Looking forward to the new digital economy!

I've been reading a lot about cryptocurrencies recently (and researching them). I was wondering why there are so many? Do they all have individual uses? Are they all geographic in nature? There seems to be more than is required for a cybereconomy.

its like USD / EUR / GBP 

[Vezalke]

My opinion is there will be couple of currencies (3, 4 or 5 max), others will die eventually. So 1st is Bitcoin, 2nd is Litecoin, other places are less known...time will show.

[issaxde]

Which currencies will prevail depends on which alt currencies are abled to attract a big enough user base. The value and stability of currencies is defined by the amount of people accepting it as payment. Bitcoin therefore definitely has a big advantage towards the other digital currencies.