Will Bitcoin spinoffs devalue Bitcoin over the long term?

[Abiky]

After Bitcoin Cash split from the main Bitcoin blockchain, a plethora of other cryptocurrencies followed suit. First came Bitcoin Cash, then came Bitcoin Diamond, Bitcoin Gold, Bitcoin SV, and so on. Each fork is basically the same Bitcoin with an identical supply (21 million coins) and genesis block. What makes them different is their approach to scalability. Every Bitcoin fork that is created, essentially multiplies Bitcoin's total supply two or three times its size. This is sort of a double spend (although not in a direct manner). Imagine if we had 10 Bitcoin spinoffs, that means the supply will increase to 210,000! I'd bet if the Bitcoin Cash hard fork didn't happen, we'd still have only one Bitcoin (BTC) with a price higher than today. I'm still wrapping my head around this so please correct me if I'm wrong.

Do you think Bitcoin-based forks (spinoffs) will devalue the original Bitcoin (BTC) over the long term? If not, why? Don't we have too many forks already? Your input will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

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[zasad@]

How Many Bitcoin Forks Are There? You will be surprised!!!
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5221882
Interesting article, see where these coins are now!
If some shitty project calls its coin bitcoin, then I don't think it will greatly affect the price of bitcoin.

[Dave1]

Do you think Bitcoin-based forks (spinoffs) will devalue the original Bitcoin (BTC) over the long term? If not, why? Don't we have too many forks already? Your input will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

As the saying goes "Imitation is a form of flattery". However, I don't think this is applicable to BTC though. It is the prime mover obviously, that's why it has a lot of spinoffs, however, it will doesn't have a negative effect, on the contrary it will make BTC stronger as it will get more consensus support from investors. We have seen the majority of the members here, doesn't like fork coins, maybe because of the people behind, or simply that they see it is a "threat", hence they stay with the original BTC.

[Welsh]

Every Bitcoin fork that is created, essentially multiplies Bitcoin's total supply two or three times its size.

Not entirely accurate, since hard forks when not considered by the consensus to be Bitcoin, aren't Bitcoin. Forking Bitcoin, doesn't mean that its Bitcoin, the same as using the code Bitcoin has, to create a coin with a different name isn't Bitcoin. Its another altcoin. For example, I think you would be hard pressed to find a supporter of Bitcoin, consider Bitcoin Cash as Bitcoin.

What your really asking is will altcoins effect Bitcoin's price, and the answer is probably yes. Although, predicting how it will effect it or how it has effected it, would be difficult to measure. I would expect that the popularity of altcoins has increased exposure of Bitcoin though, and has impacted it more positively rather than negatively.

Although, it has to be said if there is a better alternative to Bitcoin, then of course it has the potential of devaluing Bitcoin. If there's a better alternative, that fixes the issues of Bitcoins, while not having any drawbacks that outweigh the positives, its quite likely that it would devalue Bitcoin. Depending on how many people would make the switch. I've said this a few times, but Bitcoin has quite a few issues which has been discussed to death, but it is currently the best out there, and eventually we might be referring to Bitcoin as the foundation that started it all, rather than the solution to the problem. There are definitely some interesting technologies, and ideas coming out of the woodwork, e.g MimbleWimble, but their current implementation isn't quite there yet.

[hatshepsut93]

Almost all people who invvest in Bcash, BSV and other Bitcoin clone scamcoins are people who hate Bitcoin, and they simply wouldn't hold hold Bitcoin if those shitcoins didn't exist. The amount of people who were honestly choosing between Bitcoin and forks and choose forks is so negligible, that in this hypothetical scenario where forks didn't exist, the price would be only tiny fractions of percent higher. You can't just take marketcaps of forks and threat them as shards of Bitcoin's value. Billions of dollars of marketcap can be created out of thin air in an instant in the crypto world.

[passwordnow]

We literally got a lot of forks already that deals with what they think is better for bitcoin. I do agree that if there are no forks around the market today then most of those market caps will go to bitcoin but it could possibly be as the same scenario that we've got today. Because there are too many altcoins that's also being chosen by many pickers that chooses altcoins aside from bitcoin. But I do not think that there's any chance that another fork will devalue bitcoin. It's like the gold that we've got in real life while we still use cash, an actual store of value just as the reason why we hold it.

[mk4]

Knowing that these forked-off communities are huge minorities, not really. The effect on bitcoin's value is just so minuscule that it might as well not exist.

On the other hand, it might do have a small effect on people's perception of Bitcoin. Though definitely wrong, some people actually think that creating a Bitcoin fork means that you're inflating Bitcoin's supply. One of those people being Peter Schiff himself.

[SquirrelJulietGarden]

They are altcoins and altcoins can not devalue Bitcoin. It does not matter only because they are Bitcoin forks.

How Many Bitcoin Forks Are There? You will be surprised!!!

In very short term, in altcoin seasons, capital can be spent to altcoins but it does not mean Bitcoin will be devalue in altcoin seasons. Bitcoin usually is sideway in altcoin seasons or it has a very good growth and is a first fire that activates altcoin seasons.

Without Bitcoin, no altcoin season so altcoins can not devalue Bitcoin.

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

Do you think Bitcoin-based forks (spinoffs) will devalue the original Bitcoin (BTC) over the long term? If not, why? Don't we have too many forks already? Your input will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

We're practicing decentralization here and therefore anyone wanting to make a change to the code of bitcoin should be allowed to and it's left for the community to decide. We have countless amount of bitcoin forks already and something tells me we're likely to have equal amount to be forked in future. The possibility is now high as the forks could also be forked and bring about forked coins but neither could devalue the original which is Bitcoin.

Some will compete with the market capitalization of bitcoin and adoption (acceptance from the community) in the short term just as Bitcoin cash tried but in the long term, they won't be a threat to the growth of Bitcoin. Just like other altcoins, these forked will have to rely on the success of bitcoin to be able to get any attention on them and that alone says it all as they'll still need Bitcoin to survive.

For this to even be possible, the industry has to stop depending on bitcoin and its market dominance has to drop it the lowest of level (if possible, to one digit dominance) but that's unlikely to happen as the whole industry is built around the success of Bitcoin and don't think anyone is ready to risk not making Bitcoin the center of attraction to see how the market will react (off course it'll crumble).

[dothebeats]

Why would they take value out of something that already proved itself valuable amidst the ocean of copy cats? If people see value on forks, then it's good, though I don't think that the general sentiment of the market will be swayed just because one small group thinks that their forked version of bitcoin is better and more superior than that of the main one. There will surely be more forks in the future, and it is up to the public on whether they would choose it over bitcoin or not.

[Xinarae*]

Whether the bitcoin spin off will devalue bitcoin in the long run will usually depend on their country. Even if the government gives legitimacy and the people show high demand for it the use of bitcoin will increase bitcoin now has to be accepted as a legal tender in all financial transactions in the country except for businesses that do not have bitcoin transaction technology. Bitcoin or cryptocurrency is the easiest and best way for groups if people know how to use it properly it will become valuable in the market.

[davis196]

Just take a look at the market cap of all forked Bitcoins and you will answer your own question.
I remember that some of the big Bitcoin hardforks actually pumped the Bitcoin price,because the traders started buying more BTC,expecting to get some forked "Bitcoin" like BCH for free,and those BCH actually had some value on the market.
In the long term,more people will dump these forked "Bitcoins"(BCH/BSV) and their value will go down.
I don't see how this will devalue Bitcoin Core.
 

[buwaytress]

One of the forks you mentioned was actually a fork of a fork (SV forked off Cash), so we know just how ridiculous the notion was that these forks happened to "preserve" values or ideals.

I don't think it's just scalability that makes their approach different (but isn't scalability how most coins anyway primarily choose to differ?). Some made important changes to consensus algorithm I believe.

But multiplying Bitcoin supply? That's nonsense:) And we DO have 10 spinoffs... much, much more. There's nothing preventing a hundred or thousand more. That doesn't dilute Bitcoin. If anything, the existence and subsequent failures of all these forks substantiate the value of Bitcoin.

[Kakmakr]

Unfortunately people come with politics and greed as part of their human characteristics, so Satoshi Nakamoto made provision for hard forks when those characteristics come into play. We saw how Mike Hearn and Gavin Andresen underestimated their support and they tried to take over the Bitcoin (BTC) project ...and when they failed, they created a hard fork to sabotage it and to be in control of their own copy of Bitcoin and that failed too. 

Roger Ver pushed hard to change people's perception that Bitcoin Cash was "the real"  Bitcoin and that failed too, because people quickly see through scams and trickery and enough facts are out there to discredit these claims. These Alt coins will never be "the real" Bitcoin and it is not diluting the real coin. 

[mk4]

Just take a look at the market cap of all forked Bitcoins and you will answer your own question.

Heck, while those Bitcoin forks are getting lower than lower as expected, they don't even deserve to be in the first page of CMC. I know altcoins are controversial here, I still believe that a lot of other projects deserves far more recognition compared to these forks(especially Faketoshi coin).

[Kong Hey Pakboy]

I think that it won't although I think a lot of the users think so, probably because bitcoin has increased in prices even though there was a lot of bitcoin forks before we reached the current ATH.

[PrivacyG]

Forks will only make Bitcoin stronger.  While anyone can create a Bitcoin replica and release it to the public, besides Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin SV most other forks have a very negligible market cap.  Even if you watch these two closely, you would find out they have a fake volume and likely a strong price manipulating strategy anyway.

Scalability issues are not gone with Bitcoin Cash or other forks.  They are not gone until Bitcoin Cash gets to the same level of transactions per day Bitcoin has now.  Only then we can compare and see whether the fork has solved what Bitcoin has been struggling with so far.  If Bitcoin Cash proves their solution to scalability is worth it, Bitcoin will immediately get an upgrade and Bitcoin Cash or other forks will once again be deemed worthless.

Unless Bitcoin finds a proper competitor, it will not be devalued by useless and worthless replicas.  They will never cease to exist but Bitcoin will never cease its spot in front of a fake.

-
Regards,
PrivacyG

[Lee_Mire]

After Bitcoin Cash split from the main Bitcoin blockchain, a plethora of other cryptocurrencies followed suit. First came Bitcoin Cash, then came Bitcoin Diamond, Bitcoin Gold, Bitcoin SV, and so on. Each fork is basically the same Bitcoin with an identical supply (21 million coins) and genesis block. What makes them different is their approach to scalability. Every Bitcoin fork that is created, essentially multiplies Bitcoin's total supply two or three times its size. This is sort of a double spend (although not in a direct manner). Imagine if we had 10 Bitcoin spinoffs, that means the supply will increase to 210,000! I'd bet if the Bitcoin Cash hard fork didn't happen, we'd still have only one Bitcoin (BTC) with a price higher than today. I'm still wrapping my head around this so please correct me if I'm wrong.

Do you think Bitcoin-based forks (spinoffs) will devalue the original Bitcoin (BTC) over the long term? If not, why? Don't we have too many forks already? Your input will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Yes initially, fork coins will take some market value from bitcoin. The amount of market share will depend on how much hype the coin has. But after a while the market share will consolidate back into bitcoin. To further understand this phenomenon look in to bitcoin dominance and how it oscillates cyclically against altcoins including forks.

[Lucius]

Almost all people who invvest in Bcashtrash, BSVstupid vision and other Bitcoin clone scamcoins are people who hate Bitcoin, and they simply wouldn't hold hold Bitcoin if those shitcoins didn't exist.

I would not completely agree with that statement, because while there are those who have definitely switched to the dark side, the largest percentage of those who invest in alt Bitcoins are those who do not know the difference between Bitcoin originally conceived and launched by Satoshi and more than 100 copies which appeared after that.

Apart from ignorance and confusion, many are attracted by the price, which is much lower with forks - so someone would rather buy one whole BTCxxx for $300 than buy 0.00100000 BTC for the same amount. Of course, the promotion factor should not be neglected either - because a lot of money has been invested and is still being invested in the shilling of those coins. Just take the example of a domain controlled by the famous Bitcoin Judas (RV).

[caffu chino]

no, it will have no effect on bitcoin in the long run. although in the future there will be another hard fork and produce a new copy of bitcoin, there will be no significant impact for bitcoin development. because people prefer to hold BTC, and assume all copies are altcoins. if it is possible to devalue bitcoin, it should have happened since the first hard fork. but the reality is not like that.