Bitcoin main purpose according to Satoshi himself, is as an alternative payment to fiat currency. But over the years bitcoin has grown in such a way that many have seen it’s potential of been a great investment asset.
Indeed, basically bitcoin was created by Satoshi Nakamoto with the aim of being used as a means of payment. But as time goes by, bitcoin begins to show excellent potential. Such as the number of enthusiasts continuing to increase, as well as the price aspect continuing to increase. Therefore, many Bitcoin users are investing in it. Because bitcoin does have excellent potential to generate profits. In addition, currently making payments using bitcoin in most countries is still strictly prohibited, and as far as I know, only the country of El Salvador currently legalizes bitcoin as a means of payment.
So because there are many prohibitions on making payments using bitcoin in almost all countries. Creating investment and trading channels can now be an alternative way to use Bitcoin to make money and possibly become a store of value. Because investing in bitcoin is more permitted by the governments of each country than making payments with bitcoin. So in my personal opinion, maybe because of that, Bitcoin is more widely used as an investment asset than as a means of payment.
Due to all these advantages some people have not only taken bitcoin as an investment asset but have generalized it to other cryptocurrencies as well. Some have thoughts that investing in these alternative coins are actually diversification of one’s portfolio. But is this really portfolio diversification?
Generalizing altcoins with bitcoin may be a valid opinion for some people. Because as we know, altcoins are currently created because of the presence of Bitcoin. Or more precisely because it was inspired by Bitcoin. So most likely everyone thinks that cryptocurrencies that exist today could in the future have the same potential as bitcoin. However, while this is far from a possibility, many crypto investors are looking to gain more from investing or trading altcoins. Because it cannot be denied, sometimes there are altcoins that experience crazy price increases and make altcoin investors reap big profits. So I think investing in altcoins is okay, as long as you are ready to face all the risks. The reason is, the risk of crypto investment is much greater than bitcoin investment.
And in general bitcoin and altcoins do have differences, but in essence they are on the same path, namely as crypto currencies