The next real game changer?

[doonwave]

Before I start I must emphasize that I am new to this and that I am by no means comprehensively in the know on the dynamics of the crypto-currency.
I have invested in Bitcoin as I was drawn to the idea of a decentralized currency.

I became aware of the altcoin movement over the last few weeks and from what I can see there are a lot of spam coins in circulation, coins which do not push the movement forward and are only there to fuel pump and dumpers.
I would like to think that there are teams out there who really want to push crypto-currency to the next level where it is 100% safe, effective, fair and used by everyone. 
When I look at other altcoins many of them may have one angle that make them appealing such as superior security or a development/marketing team who have a long term vision for their coin but I don't get the feeling that any one coin really nails everything. I do know that cryto-currency is still in its infancy but I am curious as to how others see the things developing from here?

[Yamabushi]

I think that in the future years the surviving coins will be those that focus on anonymity, decentralization, strong security against both client and server attacks, as well as have fair mining algorithms that can't be overtaken by specialised hardware.

[Meizirkki]

Success of NXT depends on the greed of the stakeholders. If they don't give away most all of their coins it could be labeled a scam sometime in the future.

[chreestopher]

fyi, no currency is 100% safe.

especially not a decentralized currency.

the only way for a crypto to become anywhere near as safe as - say, the US dollar- would be with government insured backing, which is 100% against the entire point of cryptocurrencies....

Besides, even government backed, insured currencies are still susceptible to scams and a ton of other potential security problems.

There is no such thing as perfect security.

[Gorush89]

Skycoin might be a goodgame changer

[abstractednerve]

Game changer for where? Globally? Locally?

Currencies like FRK are building strong foundations in their local small city communities, other currencies like doge are solidifying in with the anon trolls for the lulz (ya know, for tipping of course.. like the other currencies dont have tip bots lol), others like btc are working towards big merchants like overstock and trips to space. Each have their own reason to exist.

[tokyopotato]

Game changer for where? Globally? Locally?

Currencies like FRK are building strong foundations in their local small city communities, other currencies like doge are solidifying in with the anon trolls for the lulz (ya know, for tipping of course.. like the other currencies dont have tip bots lol), others like btc are working towards big merchants like overstock and trips to space. Each have their own reason to exist.

Yes... that's what I have realized as well.

I am definitely bullish on BTC, LTC, WDC, and QRK.  These seem to have the most development behind them in terms of utilization for transactions between FIAT currencies across the globe.  There is also PPC which is very nice as well.  It seems many of the other coins will be specifically used for exchanging value between different online communities for purposes of crowdfunding... since all of these can be converted into BTC at the moment, and BTC is the main way to convert to FIAT, I want to be involved with the coins which have the most potential to integrate with FIAT currencies.

I am keeping my eye on Cryptsy's development of its' FIAT integration as well the QuarkPayments and Scharmbeck Worldcoin Financial Services. 

We are entering the beginning of the end of banking as we know it. 

The Doomsayers believe that governments will ban these currencies, but they cannot possibly do so unless they become authoritarian like the Chinese Communist Party and attempt take complete control of the Internet.

Therefore, in reality, the success of these currencies depends entirely upon keeping the Internet free and making sure governments don't try to fight.

I hope at this point, the less authoritarian governments will realize the more they resist change, then they will just fall behind the free world in human development.

BTC and cryptocurrencies may become critical in bringing the internet away from its' current wasteful Facebook social networking model to a real social networking that involves free trade and free exchange of ideas.

[tokyopotato]

Success of NXT depends on the greed of the stakeholders. If they don't give away most all of their coins it could be labeled a scam sometime in the future.

I am very skeptical of NXT for three reasons:  One it is not open-source (even though the developers claim that it will be soon), it is centralized, its' development is controlled by the largest coin holders known as "founders"...

Will they just give coins away?  What is the real value behind the coins since there was no real work involved in getting them in the first place?

[Meizirkki]

I am very skeptical of NXT for three reasons:  One it is not open-source (even though the developers claim that it will be soon), it is centralized, its' development is controlled by the largest coin holders known as "founders"...

Will they just give coins away?  What is the real value behind the coins since there was no real work involved in getting them in the first place?

All three are valid reasons. I was working on a similar project (tho Bitcoin based) earlier this year where almost all the coins were to be minted in the genesis block and shared equally to ensure quick adoption. The project was halted because we found no entity reliable enough to do the sharing..

Nxt looks like an interesting project and I hope they'll "do the right thing".

[jonanon]

Everyone has different opinions about the best alt currency.

I have done a fair bit of research and think Anoncoin is the way forward. Unobtanium as well.

I could be wrong though!

[nweb01]

DogeCoin all the way.
It started as a joke but now that it can be traded for BTC the joke is no more and with increased use as a tipping currency it may blast off in use.

[leeo]

There is more to an alt-coin then merely attempting a pump-and-dump.  I am intrigued with the concept of a distributed anonymous corporation, which I independently observed.  I see alt-currencies as an attempt to see the results of tweaking various factors of the BitCoin protocol.  If BitCoin is the "single-celled" organism in a new evolutionary ecosystem, then introducing some mutations into the "DNA" might result in a stronger organism -- or at least in stronger organelles for other distributed anonymous corporations.

While I feel that the niche for capital exchange is nicely filled currently by BitCoin, there are certainly other niches worth exploring.  However, if the community wants to experiment with the BitCoin protocol itself I thought it might be more intellectually honest to provide the following framework for testing alternative capital-exchange protocols.   Why not announce a definite begin and end time in terms of block-chain number accepted into the BitCoin main block chain, and run the DAE on a temporary basis, with startup, running and dissolution phases, much like the life cycle of insects.  There could be a long port-mortem period with discussions regarding the merits and limitations of each "mutation".  A pool of BTC could be crowd sourced, which is distributed at the dissolution phase on a merit basis. 

With myself as an Austrian Economist and the belief in the 50-year business depression cycle, I believe that the personal computer boom is what held the 1979 depression from fully materializing.  We are again in an economy similar to 1979; I hope that the emergence of an eco system of true distributed anonymous corporations, DAC's, may well keep the credit contraction threat at bay for yet another generation.  --LeeO   

[mindtomatter]

I just returned from a retreat focused on what I consider to be the next real game changer, you can see the first whitepaper that resulted from this meeting at the link below. 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PBjrpMBViJh1-QrWJ80XMcQmhqcG3NhhoeSn0C_ML7Y/edit?usp=sharing

[infinitybo]

@Doonwave It's possible because the next real game will come in 2014.

[mashac]

There's only one game changer, Inus Shibe aka The DOGE.... and.... the game is already changed...

[keijokolme]

NXT is one of the most promising coins atm. You should invest in it now!

[guybrushthreepwood]

I think a truly anonymous currency could take off on the black market. Maybe that might be one of the next big coins as it will definitely serve a purpose over all these other clonecoins.

[yatsey87]

A coin is going to have to come along that is really innovative to get anywhere close to Bitcoin's crown, but if one did come along I could easily see it overtaking LTC to become second best.

[bitbitz]

Stick to bitcoin I say

[yatsey87]

Stick to bitcoin I say

Yes. but they're after the next big game changer.