Why is bitcoin special?

[Bhig Daddy]

 I'm new to cryptocurrency and am still learning everything I can about it. What is it about bitcoin that makes it so valuable? I see all of those other coins that have a lot of utility and practical use when compared to bitcoin, but they don't have the market cap. According to what I've learned, it has extremely slow transaction speeds and higher transaction fees than other coins. It's doesn't appear to stand out from the crowd, yet bitcoin remains number one, is there something I'm missing here? I looked online but couldn't find anything that answered my question. Thanks

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[Mpamaegbu]

First off, I like to state here that I've shared the same sentiment elsewhere and then I summarily realized that Bitcoin's strength is derived from its community. It has a strong fan base, no doubt. Besides, it's the pathfinder in this game. I've continued to wonder how a crypto without a smart contract or any other utility apart from payment and not even a PoS can still retain the number one spot and doing well in terms of price while Ethereum with all its innovative help to other projects lags a distant second. Maybe there are stuff about Bitcoin that has eluded me on this. We sure can do with experts' input and comments on this puzzle here.

[hosseinimr93]

What is it about bitcoin that makes it so valuable?

Security and decentralization. Bitcoin is the only cryptocurrency that is truly decentralized.

None of the altcoins can provide bitcoin's security and decentralization.
The total hash power in bitcoin is very much higher than (POW) altcoins and as the hashrate has been distributed around the world among thousands of miners, the cost to perform an attack in bitcoin is very very much higher than altcoins. In POS altcoins, there are significant number of pre-mined coins. The owner of those coins (the team) can stake them and have control over the network.

[NeuroticFish]

What is it about bitcoin that makes it so valuable?

While most (but not all) altcoins are also scarce, there are some things here:
1. Bitcoin was the first. Most of the rest are just copying what Bitcoin has done or it's doing.
2. Bitcoin is accepted in more places than the altcoins.
3. Historically many altcoins are traded vs Bitcoin and not fiat directly (or have important coin-vs-BTC markets) making easy all of them fall (vs fiat) when Bitcoin price falls; even more altcoin markets are known to be more volatile than Bitcoin's
4. A very important factor is the mining. Bitcoin is not only very scarce, but also expensive to mine, incredibly expensive to (51%) attack, it's properly decentralized (unlike some known altcoins where a small number of entities are nodes, pools, validators, whatever).
5. Back to volatility: since Bitcoin market is less volatile (and a bit more predictable) than altcoins' institutional investors also seem to prefer bitcoin
6. Brand name. Bitcoin si the digital gold. The altcoins are "just shitcoins and scam".

[Charles-Tim]

Bitcoin is the first cryptocurrency, because of bitcoin, blockchain was created which all other cryptocurrencies are using and advancing today. Bitcoin remain the most decentralized, the creator (Satoshi Nakamoto) is not known unlike other cryptocurrencies and has no control over bitcoin and remain unknown, unlike altcoins.

Bitcoin truly has the strongest blockchain. The confirmation time for a transaction can take 10 minutes but it helps the security in some ways.

About fee, bitcoin transaction fee is not high, I did not spend up to or more than $0.06 in the last transactions I made, although, the mempool is not congested, but the mempool is most of the time not congested or getting congested.

Exchanges and other centralized platforms can charged extra fee which makes some people think bitcoin transaction fee is high but actually not high at all.

First off, I like to state here that I've shared the same sentiment elsewhere and then I summarily realized that Bitcoin's strength is derived from its community. It has a strong fan base, no doubt.

Fan based like?

Even no country yet made any altcoin a legal tender while two countries and an island in Honduras have already made bitcoin a legal tender.

[Lucius]

I'm new to cryptocurrency and am still learning everything I can about it.

By the date of registration you have more than 9 months on this forum, and if you were active you could learn a lot of things, of course if you did not spend too much time on bounty campaigns.

What is it about bitcoin that makes it so valuable? I see all of those other coins that have a lot of utility and practical use when compared to bitcoin, but they don't have the market cap.

The market cap is just a manipulation of numbers that you don't need to pay too much attention to. If you look at a coin that is in 2nd place by that criterion, then you will see that its market cap is about 3 times smaller than Bitcoin, but that the circulating supply is as much as 6 times larger. Don't let this ever be the main criterion by which you will judge how good a project is.

According to what I've learned, it has extremely slow transaction speeds and higher transaction fees than other coins. It's doesn't appear to stand out from the crowd, yet bitcoin remains number one, is there something I'm missing here? I looked online but couldn't find anything that answered my question. Thanks

For a start, Bitcoin is the first successful cryptocurrency that is also unique because it is completely decentralized and based on the POW which, although energy-intensive, is far fairer than the cryptocurrencies that are using POS. Transactions are therefore much more secure when it comes to Bitcoin, so even though they may not seem fast enough, we have one confirmation block on average every 10 minutes - and if you can look at mempool and pay the appropriate fee, you can get confirmation of your transaction pretty fast.

[Despairo]

I laughed to all shitcoins who stated their advantages are have faster and cheaper fees unlike Bitcoin, though it's correct but the reason behind that is their market cap is low and the daily volume trading is really low compared to Bitcoin. Any crypto have big market cap and daily volume trading will increase the fees since the network is busy also other users want to pay more higher. I believe if those shitcoins have same market cap and daily volume trading, the fees will high like Bitcoin or higher, take a look how centralized Ethereum charge insane fees when the market bullish lol.

[hosseinimr93]

I laughed to all shitcoins who stated their advantages are have faster and cheaper fees unlike Bitcoin, though it's correct but the reason behind that is their market cap is low and the daily volume trading is really low compared to Bitcoin...........

The other reason is that many of them use POS algorithm.
With POS, they decrease the transaction fee. But they make the coin centralized and also decrease the security and increase the chance of attack.

[suzanne5223]

Bitcoin was special not because it was the first-ever cryptocurrency, it was because introduced innovative concepts, the power of blockchain to the world, decentralization, deflationary (which serves as inflation control), consensus, and no censorship which literally gives liberation to the people.

These are some of the things people needed for the government and something happened when the institution switch to BTC because they are not getting what they wanted through fiat currency.

Mind you, most of the important features that make the rich and common people feel at ease in BTC no altcoin have, and thats the reason why BTC is still holding the number 1 spot till today.

[Mpamaegbu]

Bitcoin truly has the strongest blockchain. The confirmation time for a transaction can take 10 minutes but it helps the security in some ways.

About fee, bitcoin transaction fee is not high, I did not spend up to or more than $0.06 in the last transactions I made, although, the mempool is not congested, but the mempool is most of the time not congested or getting congested.

You forgot to point out times when the pool is congested and what happens. What we're doing here calls for objective analysis and not nitpick favourable times. Can you of a truth say you haven't encountered Bitcoin transaction delays that lasted more than 24hrs? I have. In fact, I've experienced one that lingered more than 72hrs (I've read of people who complained of longer time too). While Bitcoin is rated safer than others (at least), it still has its own issues such as I mentioned. This isn't to take away anything from it though. Just imagine Bitcoin having half of the attributes of ETH like its smart contract and others in addition to what it already has. Just imagine that 🤔

Fan based like?

Fan base ✓ Community.

Bitcoin has the most dedicated and self believing community.

[Charles-Tim]

You forgot to point out times when the pool is congested and what happens. What we're doing here calls for objective analysis and not nitpick favourable times. Can you of a truth say you haven't encountered Bitcoin transaction delays that lasted more than 24hrs? I have. In fact, I've experienced one that lingered more than 72hrs (I've read of people who complained of longer time too). While Bitcoin is rated safer than others (at least), it still has its own issues such as I mentioned. This isn't to take away anything from it though. Just imagine Bitcoin having half of the attributes of ETH like its smart contract and others in addition to what it already has. Just imagine that

The last time the mempool was congested recently was not up to 2 or 3 days which require people to pay not more than $1 or so for one input and 2 outputs transaction, and that was when the price plummeted recently as many people are moving their coins to exchanges to sell. The last mempool congestion that last long that I could remember was early 2020, first quarter (last 2 years).  I understood mempool congestion could be frustrating at times.

Nonetheless, this does not still change the fact that many people thought that bitcoin transaction fee is high, but which is not, although altcoins fees are cheaper, but not that bitcoin transaction fee is high, most people are just deceived by exchange withdrawal fee. Only what they can say that could be agreed on is that bitcoin confirmation time after a transaction is broadcasted is not instant, and like I have once commented about it, it helps to reduce the chance of chain reorganization which can be used by some miners to manipulate the blockchain.

[Alisha-k]

If you are a Bitcoin enthusiast and investor then we both give Bitcoin the value it posses. It is a digital asset that gets its value from it's community of holder. One thing that keeps giving people more trust in Bitcoin is because it is decentralized and gives you total control of your fund without a third party interference. The benefit of bitcoin is so numerous that you can't finish pointing them all out

[CryptoHeadlineNews]

Bitcoin was ctually the first cryptocurrency, and it is as a result of Bitcoin other coins came into existence. And however, Bitcoin was launched in 2009 (15th July 2015) and 6years later Ethereum came with a more upgraded features just as you refer to, followed by others. And secondly, Bitcoin is special because on must exchanges, Bitcoin is a major pairs to most coins listed on these exchange

[Mpamaegbu]

Can you of a truth say you haven't encountered Bitcoin transaction delays that lasted more than 24hrs? I have. In fact, I've experienced one that lingered more than 72hrs (I've read of people who complained of longer time too).

I understood mempool congestion could be frustrating at times.

Not at times, all the time. It's highly frustrating whenever that happens.

[Davidvictorson]

You forgot to point out times when the pool is congested and what happens. What we're doing here calls for objective analysis and not nitpick favourable times. Can you of a truth say you haven't encountered Bitcoin transaction delays that lasted more than 24hrs? I have. In fact, I've experienced one that lingered more than 72hrs (I've read of people who complained of longer time too).

I experienced this delay today and I was extremely worried. But thankfully it has been resolved. Aside from the contribution made by the community in making bitcoin so special, I want to believe that the naysayers too, and those who want to see bitcoin dead has also played a role in making Bitcoin so special and valuable. Without them, it would have a little bit difficult to garner the curiosity to know more about the potential of Bitcoin in the economy.

[Doan9269]

What is it about bitcoin that makes it so valuable?

Your question seems pretty good enough to receive better attention but before i could say anything I will like to emoloy you to read more about bitcoin with the help of the google search engine, there you got to know that bitcoin is the only most recognized digital currency for exchange of goods and services, a good store of value, investment asset and so on, it's fast, reliable and secured for any payment or transaction needed.

[GeorgeJohn]

Cryptocurrency especially bitcoin is specifical indecencies that it's a decentralized currency. Secondly it doesn't fall under the controls of section or any arm government worldwide. This a currency that is induced by person called [Satoshi Nakamoto] and the documents of it, is dependable by the originator which made the security life to intact and secured for future reference. Furthermore it's likely to know that Bitcoin is a digital currency which you have the security key called seed phrase to access were it's kept without involving second or third party before you can have access to it on like fiat currency banking system. In summary, you obtain more details of bitcoin different or specialty from internet and youtube video.

[KingsDen]

I'm new to cryptocurrency and am still learning everything I can about it. What is it about bitcoin that makes it so valuable? I see all of those other coins that have a lot of utility and practical use when compared to bitcoin, but they don't have the market cap. According to what I've learned, it has extremely slow transaction speeds and higher transaction fees than other coins. It's doesn't appear to stand out from the crowd, yet bitcoin remains number one, is there something I'm missing here? I looked online but couldn't find anything that answered my question. Thanks

You have received some answers already, but let me lend my voice.

1. Bitcoin the king is outstanding from other cryptocurrencies because it is the mother of them all. When the king sneezes, they will all be affected.
2. Bitcoin the king is the truest decentralized cryptocurrency, while some altcoins may claim that they are decentralized, they have some kind of centralization behind the scene.
3. The PoW security system of bitcoin is secured that it cannot be hijacked. This cannot be said of other cryptocurrencies.
4. Bitcoin as the oldest, has passed some tests and crossed a decade which so many altcoins will not be able to accomplish.
5. Bitcoin supply is fixed and hence makes it a scarce asset
These are but not limited reasons people consider bitcoin special.

[sheenshane]

I looked online but couldn't find anything that answered my question.

I didn't think you really did this, it seems there are a bunch of articles that explained very well why Bitcoin becomes the king of all cryptocurrencies, and why Bitcoin remained the number one in the crypto space.

It's already answered your question above, in addition to them, just read the Bitcoin Whitepaper to know furthermore about Bitcoin and what is the purpose why it was created, and the goal of the creator.

You'll never find a system in the crypto space that has a truly decentralized nature, it's only in Bitcoin.

[2stout]

Bitcoin is the first, oldest, decentralized, immutable, deflationary, and has finite supply which also increases scarcity.  Meanwhile, quite the opposite is happening with fiat- centralized, infinite supply, & inflationary.