Will Ethereum/Altcoins Be Valuable Or Relevant without Bitcoin?

[Bestly]

I happen to be in a group that has to be with Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies in general. There was an argument recently, for and against, about the fact that non-existence (if possible) of Bitcoin would render or make Ethereum (and other altcoins) useless.
The stronger argument which is for Bitcoin had it that if it happens that there was no Bitcoin again, other coins/tokens would also stop having values. They might justify this because bearish trend in Bitcoin affects almost all other, and for other related reasons.

In my own knowing, I knew that Bitcoin came on the scene the first, and that the idea of it inspired Ethereum second, which gave platform for many Ethereum-based tokens, and there are also other platform-based tokens also like Wave, Stellar, etc
Could all of these starting from Ethereum still exit or useful if Bitcoin wouldn't be any more?
The answer to me is in affirmative, but can anyone lecture on why not?
Insightful answers please.

[mk4]

Other coins and tokens hugely rely on bitcoin's price. If bitcoin goes crashing down to triple digits, the cryptocurrency market as a whole will definitely be hugely affected, but it doesn't mean other coins/tokens will be render them useless. It's just that they will be extremely cheap.

If bitcoin goes to $100, it's still the same bitcoin that can be transacted freely. Same with ETH and other non-crap coins/tokens.

Price =/= utility

[Herbert2020]

There was an argument recently, for and against, about the fact that non-existence (if possible) of Bitcoin would render or make Ethereum (and other altcoins) useless.

majority of altcoins serve one purpose and that is to generate money for their investors aka speculators. with or without bitcoin they may exist because pump and dumps don't just go away. people are making a lot of money from them! besides they are mostly useless already if you don't count what i just said as their usage.

In my own knowing, I knew that Bitcoin came on the scene the first, and that the idea of it inspired Ethereum second,

ethereum is in no way "second" it is after at least a couple of thousands of different altcoins!

which gave platform for many Ethereum-based tokens,

that is the only reason ETH exists and the only reason it is this pumped up. because it offered a very easy way of creating tokens out of thin air which you could offer in an ICO and earn a shitload of money. so it attracted thousands of scammers and people who wanted easy free money to itself.

Could all of these starting from Ethereum still exit or useful if Bitcoin wouldn't be any more?
The answer to me is in affirmative, but can anyone lecture on why not?
Insightful answers please.

there was a topic that was deleted because OP of it was advertising shitcoins, in there he was insisting that ICOs are "solving problems". i asked him to provide an example of at least one and he failed. i ask you again. what is the usage of Ethereum? creating ICOs. what is the usage of ICOs? what have they solved? nothing. prove me wrong!

[bob123]

what is the usage of Ethereum? creating ICOs.

I disagree with this statement.
The whole purpose of ethereum is NOT to creat ICOs.

The real purpose is to be able to create small programs (smart contracts) which can be executed without a central authority.
Just because the majority of people are using them to simply create ICOs where they just build some kind of a payment token and promise a lot of utility, this doesn't describe the usage/purpose of ethereum itself.
Most people are greedy. Thats the reason we have so much shitcoins and tokens now. They all just want to make fast money.
But this does no way mean that the whole ethereum network has been made for this one purpose.


@OP
I think it heavily depends on the reason for BTC going down.
If it would be because of a security vulnerability, the chances of ALL cryptos going down would be very high, IMO.

[Shreek]

sometimes someone chooses a coin which they think has more functions than BTC, for example ETH
but please note, that BTC can never be replaced its position, because the embryo of cryptocurrency is from BTC
the cryptocurrency symbol is bitcoin, BTC is only one, and ALTCOIN is a lot and only as a complement

[mk4]

what is the usage of Ethereum? creating ICOs.

I disagree with this statement.
The whole purpose of ethereum is NOT to creat ICOs.

The real purpose is to be able to create small programs (smart contracts) which can be executed without a central authority.
Just because the majority of people are using them to simply create ICOs where they just build some kind of a payment token and promise a lot of utility, this doesn't describe the usage/purpose of ethereum itself.
Most people are greedy. Thats the reason we have so much shitcoins and tokens now. They all just want to make fast money.
But this does no way mean that the whole ethereum network has been made for this one purpose.

Pretty much. Just because it's currently mostly being used for ICOs it doesn't automatically mean it was made for that sole purpose. It's just like saying bitcoin is being bought solely for speculation and not for transactions(which what it was made for).

[elisabetheva]

sometimes someone chooses a coin which they think has more functions than BTC, for example ETH
but please note, that BTC can never be replaced its position, because the embryo of cryptocurrency is from BTC
the cryptocurrency symbol is bitcoin, BTC is only one, and ALTCOIN is a lot and only as a complement

actually altcoins are pretty much good now and can be used as long-term investments even though not a few altcoins make many unsympathetic. if bitcoin is clearly still the best and certainly also ith ethereum.

[bartolo]

In my own knowing, I knew that Bitcoin came on the scene the first, and that the idea of it inspired Ethereum second, which gave platform for many Ethereum-based tokens, and there are also other platform-based tokens also like Wave, Stellar, etc
Could all of these starting from Ethereum still exit or useful if Bitcoin wouldn't be any more?

Bitcoin is not only the first cryptocurrency, it's much more than that. Bitcoin represents cryptocurrencies as a concept. If Bitcoin, for whatever reason, disappeared, the whole cryptocurrency ecosystem would disappear as well, for the simple reason that cryptos would no longer be reliable. It would not be the failure of a coin, it would be the failure of an idea.

[Ahmed4200]

I'm sorry I could not agree with you. Because Bitcoin is a coin whose radiant power covers the entire market. With its ups and downs, the whole market shone with it. Because when the price increases, the price of the whole market including the ETH increases and the price of other coins decreases and decreases. Yes Ethereum usage has increased but Ethereum / Altcoins can not be worth more than Bitcoin.

[European Central Bank]

If Bitcoin, for whatever reason, disappeared, the whole cryptocurrency ecosystem would disappear as well, for the simple reason that cryptos would no longer be reliable. It would not be the failure of a coin, it would be the failure of an idea.

In 2013 that would definitely have been the case. these days i'm not so sure.

if bitcoin died from attacks or became too broken to continue everything else would take a huge hit and there'd be years in the doldrums but many of those coins would not be broken and the concept would live on through them. they would take the lessons that ended bitcoin on board and make sure it didn't happen to them.

bitcoin is the reference coin for all alts when it comes to trading and pricing. i don't believe an alt could ever take that place. i do believe a fully legit USD pegged token could.

[BitcoinHodler]

well at this point the altcoin market pretty much exists on its own. and it exists so that traders have a place to go to and earn money. it may as well not even be called altcoin market and they may not even be trading altcoins that exist (which happens to be the case sometimes! people trade altcoins that  don't even have a functioning blockchain anymore!!!). so with or without bitcoin this broken market would still exist.

[dutchkay]

Whether we like it or not cryptocurrency is a market that it's fate is highly dependent on Bitcoin. Though some might argue it. Bitcoin is what have been controlling every altcoins in the market and still very good at doing that. Let's look at the current face of the market today. Why we are in this mess now is because of bitcoin, reaching a 20k mark and dropping sharp to 5k there by slaughtering all altcoins and leaving some lifeless. If this continues some alts will definitely seize to exist. Bitcoin dictates all and there is no cryptocurrency without bitcoin.

[bitfocus]

I just can say, their price depends on BTC price on a huge basis.

[St4yInTh3D4rk]

I'm sorry I could not agree with you. Because Bitcoin is a coin whose radiant power covers the entire market. With its ups and downs, the whole market shone with it. Because when the price increases, the price of the whole market including the ETH increases and the price of other coins decreases and decreases. Yes Ethereum usage has increased but Ethereum / Altcoins can not be worth more than Bitcoin.

Actually all the investors just look at the bitcoin price as a sign of investment time so they will invest and sell their holding when ups and downs happens respectively.But there is no reason that it has to be like that forever maybe in future the prices maybe valued based on the utility of the coins so if some coin created which can excel the usage of bitcoin then it can have high value than bitcoin.But in my opinion it will never happen bitcoin will be the best always.

[BTC_BTC]

my answer is no, as it is pretty sure the bitcoin trust will not switch to Ethereum if for example the bitcoin does not exist.
as well as other altcoins, all depend on BTC.

[Daffadile]

It seems the coins and tokens go up and down in value together. BTC goes up the go up BTC goes down and so do they. It is a trend. I hope one day currencies will be more independent of one another and that can only be accomplished by giving people more ways to spend it on everyday items.

Ether isn't going anywhere, look where it is right now with the smart contract and tokens on the rise that all require eth as gas fee. Eth has a very good reason to exist.

[derekeaton]

At the moment, bitcoin leader is among all the cryptocurrencies and they can be said to be repulsed from him. It would be hard to say if other cryptocurrencies were in demand without bitcoin. I think this is quite possible, but it's still difficult to imagine the world of cryptocurrencies without bitcoin.

[eternalgloom]

what is the usage of Ethereum? creating ICOs.

I disagree with this statement.
The whole purpose of ethereum is NOT to creat ICOs.

The real purpose is to be able to create small programs (smart contracts) which can be executed without a central authority.
Just because the majority of people are using them to simply create ICOs where they just build some kind of a payment token and promise a lot of utility, this doesn't describe the usage/purpose of ethereum itself.
Most people are greedy. Thats the reason we have so much shitcoins and tokens now. They all just want to make fast money.
But this does no way mean that the whole ethereum network has been made for this one purpose.

Pretty much. Just because it's currently mostly being used for ICOs it doesn't automatically mean it was made for that sole purpose. It's just like saying bitcoin is being bought solely for speculation and not for transactions(which what it was made for).

ICO's aren't even the most interesting examples of hat can be done with Ethereum. You can build entire decentralized applications on the Ethereum chain.
Now I would argue that there are actually better platforms for that, but it's certainly possible with ETH.

I think that if Bitcoin loses dominance, it would only affect prices for a relatively short time and the market would shift towards another coin.

[tailor.and]

All the altcoins, as well as Ethereum, is in a way or another, dependent on BTC as BTC is a dominant coin in the cryptocurrency market. Ethereum is no new, it is also affected by BTC price. But every coin has its sovereignty. Its value may go ups and downs but when it is only $1 worth, it can perform its functions thoroughly.

[GoldOrBTC]

People use ALTcoins for various purposes but most of the ALTcoin owners usually convert ALTs to BTC which just shows how much trust they have on ALTs. If you don't believe, see the recent scenario when Bitcoin went up to 8,200$ the whole ALT market crashed and now again it's recovering. I don't think it will survive without BTC.