There are so many copycats of Bitcoin. Do you think any of them will succeed?

[CryptKeeper]

I vote Yes!

I think few other altcoins will succeed and have you heard about Nxt? 100% Proof of Stake and was built /designed from scratch. It is environmentally friendly when it comes to power efficiency while using an average PC. These are some the advantages of Nxt to other altcoin plus it has a great community support. And Nxt might be the next big thing after Bitcoin.

So we'll just have to wait and see...

+1 

[dejikocv]

I think there are enough market to have different coins. Bitcoin was the first, so it is going to be always the most important, but there some new crypto with potential, like namecoin.

It is really interesting to study about the new coins, and try to search the best one to invest, because Bitcoin is out of my possibilities.

[arcke]

Theres so much more to discover after bitcoin and our first advances in cryptocurrency.

http://invictus-innovations.com/protoshares/

http://vbuterin.com/ethereum.html

Every day brightens my eyes more than the day before it.

[AldenHurley]

You do realise don't you that there are coins out there while using code from Litecoin etc. that have devs who actually know what they're doing and are just using the code sample as a starting point? I do agree a lot of coins are crap though, I don't know how the hell Doge coin for instance got onto Vircurex.

The issue is that the algorithm must be the same across all systems and maintain consistency from the inception of the coin. Since all blocks, historical and new, must adhere to the algorithm any changes to it potentially invalidate (or worse change) previous transactions. Copiers of other algorithms may have dev teams that know what they are doing, but their only hope for differentiation if they are using a copied algorithm lie in marketing and infrastructure.

[bryant.coleman]

The only chance for any of these altcoins to become as successful as the BTC, is if the BTC dies off due to some currently undiscovered technical bug.

[AldenHurley]

The only chance for any of these altcoins to become as successful as the BTC, is if the BTC dies off due to some currently undiscovered technical bug.

There are a few flawed design aspects of BTC that I feel will become increasingly evident as the currency's usage continues to proliferate. Surprisingly, only a handful of alt-coins even attempt at addressing some of these, most notably the 51% issue and matters of inflation. There are others.

[dejikocv]

The only chance for any of these altcoins to become as successful as the BTC, is if the BTC dies off due to some currently undiscovered technical bug.

I think that if they found some technical bug in the BTC, all the others currencies would be affected also, because people would think that the others currencies could have another bug in the future, and there aren't warranty to lost your money.

At the end would be like gold and silver. Gold is the important, and silver is in the second position, but both of them are recognized.

[sgtbrownpants]

Nope

[Merica]

I see the altcoins useful as testing grounds for new ideas that could be implemented into Bitcoin, as well as a way to earn a quick buck! I think an altcoin with slightly different economics (such as a constant, low, rate of inflation to encourage spending) would be interesting.

[AldenHurley]

I see the altcoins useful as testing grounds for new ideas that could be implemented into Bitcoin, as well as a way to earn a quick buck! I think an altcoin with slightly different economics (such as a constant, low, rate of inflation to encourage spending) would be interesting.

Quark has that

[whitejade]

I believe there are opportunities for additional crypto-based currencies to take hold and present staying power within the market. That said, I'd wager the likeliness of this to be rooted in the fundamental strength and appeal of some meaningful difference between it and BitCoin. There have been several small nuanced derivatives that have considerable following and community support, but the vast majority are simple contrived garbage. Anyone with a rudimentary understanding of c++ can grab the QT wallet source, run a find/replace on the coin's name, edit the images and replace them with their own, and tweak the block reward and halving rate. These will continue to proliferate until the attention bubble bursts. Those with a marketable difference in design or application will remain. Of course no one knows when that will be.

[DooMAD]

LiteCoin is an acceptable replacement.  only time will tell..

Yep, I think Litecoin has a big future.  Been getting a fair bit from faucets like this one.

[undeadbitcoiner]

In this Cryptoworld Bitcoin is root Currency and all other Alt Coins are its ryt and lef hands
So every coins has its own value and every coins are holding some Bitcoin and growing up,
If there were no any altcoins to support Bitcoin may be bitcoin wont be here at this stage
so we must respect each and every Alt Coins and we can believe that each and everycoin could have there value and status where and why they were been made,
Lets think, LiteCoin is Best after Bitcoin they might have there own stratazy, Like Gold of Bitcoin and Silver Litecoin
in Market we can see countrywise focused coin also and market wise focused coins also so everycoins has there chance
lets let them grow.
Good Luck

[Lethn]

You do realise don't you that there are coins out there while using code from Litecoin etc. that have devs who actually know what they're doing and are just using the code sample as a starting point? I do agree a lot of coins are crap though, I don't know how the hell Doge coin for instance got onto Vircurex.

The issue is that the algorithm must be the same across all systems and maintain consistency from the inception of the coin. Since all blocks, historical and new, must adhere to the algorithm any changes to it potentially invalidate (or worse change) previous transactions. Copiers of other algorithms may have dev teams that know what they are doing, but their only hope for differentiation if they are using a copied algorithm lie in marketing and infrastructure.

It depends purely on the programmers in charge like with anything to do with software if you have good programmers they'll be able to make some significant changes, if you only have a guy who has just copy and pasted the coin then it will just be another cheap clone.

[nastybit]

What copycat means? all alt cryptocurrencies ? sha only? obvious scam coin with nothing changed except a few parameters?
The question is not very clear... anyway I think some will remain for a few more months but none will take LTC place

[KRS_]

No I don't think any of them will be around for the long run. But certainly some will have moments of being very profitable.

[pungopete468]

I think Litecoin has a good chance of success.

I also think that any coin issued as proof of work for a scientific cause like folding@home will have long term success.

[CryptKeeper]

I believe there are opportunities for additional crypto-based currencies to take hold and present staying power within the market. That said, I'd wager the likeliness of this to be rooted in the fundamental strength and appeal of some meaningful difference between it and BitCoin. There have been several small nuanced derivatives that have considerable following and community support, but the vast majority are simple contrived garbage. Anyone with a rudimentary understanding of c++ can grab the QT wallet source, run a find/replace on the coin's name, edit the images and replace them with their own, and tweak the block reward and halving rate. These will continue to proliferate until the attention bubble bursts. Those with a marketable difference in design or application will remain. Of course no one knows when that will be.

Good spoken, whitejade! That's why I bet on NXT, it has it's own code base and a lot of new features...

[bryant.coleman]

There are a few flawed design aspects of BTC that I feel will become increasingly evident as the currency's usage continues to proliferate. Surprisingly, only a handful of alt-coins even attempt at addressing some of these, most notably the 51% issue and matters of inflation. There are others.

51% attack is a serious concern. But I don't think that the Inflation / deflation aspect will not affect the viability of the BTC.

[infinitybo]

That's the point anyways people like to invest in "copycats" of Bitcoin and maybe one of them will be the other choice.