Are Altcoins still about innovation or just profits now?

[PrivacyG]

Here is the thing.  Bitcoin was a COMPLETELY new project.  Satoshi was influenced by previous projects other people tried and failed but what Satoshi created was new and never seen before.  Altcoins are for the most part one month creations that promise every thing and deliver nothing.  They rely on Exchange listings, CEOs getting paid millions to take the Cryptocurrency some where, then nothing happens, the CEO remains rich and the Altcoin dies.

I have yet to see a single better Cryptocurrency than Bitcoin.  In my sole opinion, Monero is the only actual competitor which will shine very well when Privacy will be almost inexistent by 2030.  It will then be a fight between the 'politically correct' Bitcoin and the rebellious Monero.  Other wise, I presume all Cryptocurrencies will be for the most part dead.

[Baki202]

Majority of altcoins were never about innovation but built for profits only. How many of the altcoins are delivering any real utility? A lot of them need a multitude of social accounts to shill them on social media in order to keep them trending to draw investor into the project. Some of the team spend huge amount of money on marketing, something we do not see happen in bitcoin. Bitcoin does not need anyone to market it, the more people are seeing the benefit, the more they continue to embrace it.

And even without saying to much the intention of people towards it is to make profit and for does that can not afford bitcoin they can easily afford altcoin and there is nothing bad in investing in Altcoins. Majority of altcoins are dependent on media to survive, and it take more than that to survive, and that is why there is a big difference between bitcoin and altcoins the both of then can not be compared. People need to understand the difference. And even some altcoin can not survive no matter the amount of marketing, and bitcoin is always the best to invest in, because the investors are always considering there self first especially this new projects, you have to be careful the kind of project you invest your money into, so that after investing you don't lose your money. Because the consideration is always a selfish one.

[finaleshot2016]

Well, majority of the volume right now is because of the shitcoins but of course there are still many innovative projects that exists especially about web3. And of course, we can't really deny the fact that people want some profit so they create memecoins that could easily bring them money. Of course, some people will prioritize it while there are also people that embraces the development of web3. What I really like now is that there are various community on different categories like for example those about memecoins, airdrops and of course the utility projects. We can't blame people if they want some fast-paced projects and they can only find those in memecoins, and that's how people lose and gain money quickly.

[Cyber_warrior]

Initially, new altcoins were made to improve on Bitcoin, the transactions were faster, the privacy was better, smart contract, and many more. But recently, it feels like most new projects are after the hype and not innovation.

Everybody is after money right now, that’s why it’s just difficult to identify a good project from the projects entering the market right now, most of them will deceive investors, you will think they are good project that really worth investing, but at the end you going to notice that the team is just after money, and they going to scam investors. I don’t always encourage people to invest in new projects, because most of them are just after money, and sometimes you will find it difficult to find mistake in some projects, but at the end, they just going to scam investors.

What do you think, are altcoins still driving crypto innovation, or have they turned into just another way to gamble for gains?

They have turned into another way to gamble for gain. It has been long I saw a new project that survives the market, with the numbers of altcoin entering the market, then you going to discover that only few are useful, if you invest in the rest, you are just gambling.

[Hispo]

I used to be about innovation and what one could to implement Blockchain technology finances, but those times are long gone, in my opinion.
Now it is about people creating shitcoins for the sake of getting as much money as possible from their potential investors.
Litecoin, Ethereum, Monero and other original alternative currencies share something in common: they purpose was pure and completely centered on making money and finances more accessible to everyone in a decentralized way.

Only because of that, those old altcoins are more reliable than the usual garbage we see being launched day after day now.

[NewRanger]

What do you think, are altcoins still driving crypto innovation, or have they turned into just another way to gamble for gains?

They have turned into another way to gamble for gain. It has been long I saw a new project that survives the market, with the numbers of altcoin entering the market, then you going to discover that only few are useful, if you invest in the rest, you are just gambling.

As investors, we must focus on our own research or observations. If we find significant value in a project, we can be proud when it succeeds in the market. Many fake ones are circulating, specifically minted to create hype and profit temporarily from their projects. If we look at the price of CMC coins today, the top coins have all corrected. Why should we buy new coins that have no development progress and no product yet?

Many new coins are simply projects used by fake developers to steal our money, and we should be concerned about this. There are many good coins in the buying area, and it's better to own them. Look at the prices of BTC, ETH, BNB, SOL, SUI, Hype, XRP, and others being bought right now. Yes, if you choose the wrong word it will lead to what you said above, moving from one house to another and then moving again to another house.

[kapalmabur]

Initially, new altcoins were made to improve on Bitcoin, the transactions were faster, the privacy was better, smart contract, and many more. But recently, it feels like most new projects are after the hype and not innovation.

Meme coins, AI coins, "next-gen" tokens, they all come and go, and right now it feels like some persons are more concerned about short-term gains than real blockchain use cases.

Don't misunderstand it, some altcoins still push real progress and are doing real good; say Ethereum, Chain link and some others too but the noise is becoming quite louder than the signal.

What do you think, are altcoins still driving crypto innovation, or have they turned into just another way to gamble for gains?

That’s a really good observation, and I think you’re right that the landscape has shifted a lot over the years. Early on, most altcoins were trying to solve genuine limitations of Bitcoin  things like scalability, programmability, and privacy. Projects like Ethereum, Monero, and even early versions of Cardano or Polkadot had clear technical goals.

But now, the barrier to launching a token is so low that it’s easy for hype-driven projects to dominate the conversation. Meme coins, AI-branded tokens, and quick-turnaround launches attract attention because speculation sells faster than utility.

That said, innovation hasn’t disappeared  it’s just quieter. Real development is happening in areas like interoperability, zero knowledge proofs, decentralized identity, and real-world asset tokenization. Those projects don’t trend on social media as much, but they’re moving the space forward.

So, I’d say altcoins still can be about innovation but you have to look past the noise to find the ones that actually are.

[gunhell16]

Initially, new altcoins were made to improve on Bitcoin, the transactions were faster, the privacy was better, smart contract, and many more. But recently, it feels like most new projects are after the hype and not innovation.

Meme coins, AI coins, "next-gen" tokens, they all come and go, and right now it feels like some persons are more concerned about short-term gains than real blockchain use cases.

Don't misunderstand it, some altcoins still push real progress and are doing real good; say Ethereum, Chain link and some others too but the noise is becoming quite louder than the signal.

What do you think, are altcoins still driving crypto innovation, or have they turned into just another way to gamble for gains?

The hype surrounding new altcoins emerging in this field of the crypto industry will continue now and in the future because exploitative people know there's money in this industry.
Even legitimate investors who create their own coins in the crypto space will continue with this.

And the innovation present in this cryptocurrency business industry, which we are part of, can no longer be stopped, to be honest, because there are many investors in this era who believe
they can get a good ROI here using their capital.

[brownn]

Initially, new altcoins were made to improve on Bitcoin, the transactions were faster, the privacy was better, smart contract, and many more. But recently, it feels like most new projects are after the hype and not innovation.

Meme coins, AI coins, "next-gen" tokens, they all come and go, and right now it feels like some persons are more concerned about short-term gains than real blockchain use cases.

Don't misunderstand it, some altcoins still push real progress and are doing real good; say Ethereum, Chain link and some others too but the noise is becoming quite louder than the signal.

What do you think, are altcoins still driving crypto innovation, or have they turned into just another way to gamble for gains?

That is something I do not like about crypto.

There are coins like Litecoin which are better than BTC in fees and transfer speed but they are like dead in terms of userbase increase.

And then a new coin like MMT comes on binance and price increases by 17X in 24 hours. Just crazy.

[N9_Ninja]

Yeah, I think most altcoins today are more about quick profits than real innovation.
There are still some solid projects out there, but they get buried under all the hype and meme coins.

It used to be about improving Bitcoin or solving real problems — now it’s mostly marketing and speculation.
Only a few still focus on real tech.

[TastyChillySauce00]

Its mostly just profit, the innovation is there to hype up the project but most of the time it's just creating money out of thin air, 1-2 years after TGE their FDV gonna dump 98%.

That's how it is. Only very few project actually bring innovation such as uniswap and hyperliquid. The rest are just reinventing the wheel and adding some little innovation here and there and call it a day.

[MusaPk]

Here is the thing.  Bitcoin was a COMPLETELY new project.  Satoshi was influenced by previous projects other people tried and failed but what Satoshi created was new and never seen before.  Altcoins are for the most part one month creations that promise every thing and deliver nothing.  They rely on Exchange listings, CEOs getting paid millions to take the Cryptocurrency some where, then nothing happens, the CEO remains rich and the Altcoin dies.

I have yet to see a single better Cryptocurrency than Bitcoin.  In my sole opinion, Monero is the only actual competitor which will shine very well when Privacy will be almost inexistent by 2030.  It will then be a fight between the 'politically correct' Bitcoin and the rebellious Monero.  Other wise, I presume all Cryptocurrencies will be for the most part dead.

If you see coin listing sites like coinmarketcap.com, there are thousands of Alt coins listed there and we still see new Alt coins coming to crypto marker. I support your argument that majority of Alt coins claim huge features but deliver nothing. It's useless to invest your money on Alt coins that are new or old ones with small market cap. If someone want good return with peace of mind then he must choose Bitcoin. There are handful Alt coins like Eth or Monero that are good for long term investment, rest are just sh*t coins.

[shinratensei_]

What do you think, are altcoins still driving crypto innovation, or have they turned into just another way to gamble for gains?

It's both gain and innovation but leaning more on gain. Real innovation was when people create altcoin because they want something that other altcoin didn't have and give out coins for free to bootstrap the blockchain liquidity.
Now it's different. Basically VC investing into a project and expecting a return, the developers want the piece of cake too as well as the participants. No more innovation since whatever coming out next week or next month is just another L1 or L2 with higher TPS .

[TravelMug]

What do you think, are altcoins still driving crypto innovation, or have they turned into just another way to gamble for gains?

It's both gain and innovation but leaning more on gain. Real innovation was when people create altcoin because they want something that other altcoin didn't have and give out coins for free to bootstrap the blockchain liquidity.
Now it's different. Basically VC investing into a project and expecting a return, the developers want the piece of cake too as well as the participants. No more innovation since whatever coming out next week or next month is just another L1 or L2 with higher TPS .

Let's say it matured enough, but it seems in a backward fashion. I mean before it was touted that altcoins are more on innovation as Bitcoin is old school and traditional. But with many altcoins right now, sometimes most of them are just copy cat of other projects, it looks like everyone is just for the money.

Not all of them, but they are super-seeded with projects that devs are just looking to profits.

And every cycle, there is this hype and then after that, a new one emerge, from ICO to whatever hype we have right now (AI back projects?)

[AVE5]

Initially, new altcoins were made to improve on Bitcoin, the transactions were faster, the privacy was better, smart contract, and many more. But recently, it feels like most new projects are after the hype and not innovati

I don't think if AltCoins are innovations to improve bitcoin because nomatter how developers may want to picture it, it's of best interest to those using the coins and not for the benefit of those using bitcoin.
They're either not there to support bitcoin but mimicking the characteristics of bitcoin and while these AltCoins want to standout to gain popularities, they begin get hyped with advanced innovations just to make sure they gains the attentions of crypto users which I assume is luring based on their unreliability with the pump and dump.

So I don't see any enticement in shitcoins. Perhaps bitcoin and it blockchain is doing absolutely better, so why the sophisticating and mimicking projects hiding behind bitcoin instead of focusing on it own core.

[MArsland]

like seriously the altcoin world has really changed from what it used to be in the beginning most new coins were created to fix bitcoin’s problems!! like slow transactions, lack of privacy and limited features but now many new coins are just made for hype and quick profits, not real improvement still there are some good projects out there that keep working on real innovation like ethereum, chainlink and some newer ones focusing on faster networks better security and smart AI systems are still pushing crypto forward even if it is hard to see them through all the noise

Simply put, I'm not too concerned about altcoins ending up in the trash. We just need to be realistic and adapt, profiting from altcoins and then investing those profits in Bitcoin. You don't need to worry about the concept, innovation, and all the other offerings altcoins offer. Simply capitalize on the momentum and return to Bitcoin. After all without profit, what would you be looking for in altcoins? Invasion? Scalability? Privacy? Real-world products? It all comes down to profit, right?

[Taskford]

like seriously the altcoin world has really changed from what it used to be in the beginning most new coins were created to fix bitcoin’s problems!! like slow transactions, lack of privacy and limited features but now many new coins are just made for hype and quick profits, not real improvement still there are some good projects out there that keep working on real innovation like ethereum, chainlink and some newer ones focusing on faster networks better security and smart AI systems are still pushing crypto forward even if it is hard to see them through all the noise

Simply put, I'm not too concerned about altcoins ending up in the trash. We just need to be realistic and adapt, profiting from altcoins and then investing those profits in Bitcoin. You don't need to worry about the concept, innovation, and all the other offerings altcoins offer. Simply capitalize on the momentum and return to Bitcoin. After all without profit, what would you be looking for in altcoins? Invasion? Scalability? Privacy? Real-world products? It all comes down to profit, right?

Because most of them are profit and not really into creating something new that is useful to people. How many times we have seen such project offering innovative technologies that can change something, but all of them just turned into scam. That's why I really agree on what you have said here that we should always take our profit from those new altcoins and better reinvest it on Bitcoin for long term. Its because Bitcoin is the only coin we can rely that provably could give higher chance to earn great profits in future.

All of those thing you have mentioned comes down to profit because most of devs at this points are greedy assholes.

[MAAManda]

What do you think, are altcoins still driving crypto innovation, or have they turned into just another way to gamble for gains?

I don't deny that currently the altcoin industry is mostly focused on price growth alone, but that doesn't mean all altcoins are only focused on price growth, because small portion of altcoins are still building & innovating for better crypto industry. The beginning of the noise of useless projects began with the rise in the price of Dogecoin (DOGE), then followed by Shiba Inu (SHIB), until now we see hundreds or even thousands of tokens being created every day just to attract market capitalization.

[Trobbio]

Honestly, I think the real issue is that the barrier to entry for launching a coin has become so low. Back in the day, you needed some genuine technical knowledge and community backing. Now you can fork code in an afternoon and pump it on social media.

I'm not saying there's zero innovation happening. Projects like Ethereum and Chainlink did push boundaries. But for every one legitimate project, there are hundreds that are just trying to capitalize on the hype cycle. The signal is completely lost in the noise.

What I've noticed is that the best projects don't actually need to be shilled constantly. They build, they deliver, and people naturally use them. Most altcoins? They're all marketing and no substance.

[coin-investor]

What do you think, are altcoins still driving crypto innovation, or have they turned into just another way to gamble for gains?

It should be about innovation, but because we have investors who love to gamble for profit, developers are launching coins for pump-and-dump schemes.
Investing in coins now is like investing in a Ponzi scheme and a high-risk investment. Those who come late and dump late are going to lose their investment,
Please take a look at meme coins; many of these have little innovation; they thrive on narratives and marketing, but investors prefer them for the potential for quick profits, ignoring innovative coins because of slow development and small profits.