If Bitcoin never existed, what would be dominating the crypto space today?

[Asuspawer09]

If Bitcoin was not created we dont really know what could happened to that point, I mean we dont know if someone is going to figure out the decentralization thing, because I think it just got populalize by Bitcoin, I mean the cryptocurrency space started because of Bitcoin and without Bitcoin I dont think that the crypto is going to start or will be created as well, because most of the projects or token etc are just concept copy in Bitcoin. So without Bitcoin, there will be no basis or blockchain technology at all.

We dont know since it might go the other way around banking system and centralized transaction might be the king if Bitcoin never existed, I mean stocks, gold, real estate is already a solid assets it could easily play without Bitcoin existing and could do it's part, investors and people are already trusting it anyway, and centralized system could be the main thing obviously since that is what they are mostly promoting, since that is what they are controlling.

[Rockstarguy]

If there were no Bitcoin, I'm sure there must be something that will be valuable, if not just like Bitcoin or close to Bitcoin, because we live in a world where we have people with good intellect and a passion for solving problems. There will be people, and all they care about is coming up with Ponzi schemes or creating coins, but there will be that one different person who will come up with something good, just like Satoshi did.
CBDC is not even something to consider if there were no Bitcoin, because it is not what can solve people's financial problems, though there may be people who will engage in it because of the influence of the government trying to impose it on people by all means.

[r_victory]

I also thought about CBDCs and digital wallets or Pix (created and widely used in Brazil), but, in a way, everything derives from the principle of Bitcoin and the possibilities that have opened up since its creation. I know that similar studies were already being carried out well before the turn of the millennium, but I venture to say that, if Bitcoin didn't exist, the current ecosystem, as we know it, might not exist either. It's difficult to speculate about a subject as complex as this.

[o48o]

Nothing is created in vacuum and Satoshi like everyone else is standing in the shoulders of giants, that paved the road for bitcoin.

So definitely there would be similar attempts to solve same problem that bitcoin solves. I wouldn't compare CBDCs to anything though, as we don't have a clue what tech they end up using, and i don't see it having anything to do with "dominating the crypto space", because it contains way more then just sending value online. And CBDCs aren't about price speculation and tech community coming together.

[d5000]

I think that we shouldn't talk about the "crypto space" if we include concepts like CBDCs and/or other forms of "digital money" like Pix or Paypal. These concepts are ancient (1960s, I think), and while they are using cryptography of course, they are not "cryptocurrencies" in the sense that cryptography allows them to run in a P2P environment.

So without Bitcoin, there will be no basis or blockchain technology at all.

This is (probably) wrong. The blockchain, the concept to connect "pages" of a ledger via hashes, was already invented many years earlier. David Chaum already described a predecessor in 1982, another predecessor was the merkle tree invented in 1979. The concept of a blockchain providing reliable timestamps for documents (which is the base of the solution for the "double spend problem", because we need to know "which transaction came first", and a transaction is also a kind of document) was conceived in 1991/92 by Stuart Haber, W. Scott Stornetta and Dave Bayer.

A short history of blockchains can be found here.

So I think that at least in the late 2010s or early 2020s a "crypto space" in today's sense could have emerged, even without Satoshi's genius.

It would be interesting to think about what would have happened if Proof of Stake was actually first used for consensus, before Proof of Work. It's possible that PoW would initially have been regarded an "inferior" technology, because people would wonder why it needs so much energy to work. A Bitcoin-like PoW currency could have still emerged as a leader in that "crypto space", because the advantages (a less subjective selection of blocks) are not that hard to understand.

[Bluedrem]

I think people were more attached to physical assets back then. And if people ever wanted to use something digital for exchange as a result of technological advancements, then maybe a virtual currency would have been created. But I can't think of any other alternative that would have been as good as Bitcoin. Can you tell me why Bitcoin is different from other assets? I think its decentralization, i.e. financial independence, is what sets Bitcoin apart from other assets.

[Dr.Bitcoin_Strange]

If there was no Bitcoin, other crypto would still be dominating the space and probably one of those coins would have been the leading crypto among the rest just the way Bitcoin is the leading coin among other crypto. There was already existing ideas ideas for digital currency or cryptography, meaning that something would have still been created by someone else and that would have stood out like Bitcoin.

[ZAINmalik75]

Governments around the world are already developing central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and in a world without Bitcoin thses system would dominate completely,  so instead of decentralized as we have now,  we would have more control,  less decentralize imo.

We all somehow came to learn about CBDCs,, you know what all of them have something in common, a single reason for their existence. That was cryptocurrency. You will read statements like "CBDC is more stable against cryptocurrency technologies." So if there were no Bitcoin, then maybe they would not be thinking about CBDCs, either imo.

But it is also true that they were already moving toward digital money. So maybe we would have seen a different version of CBDCs than we are seeing now.
I completely agree with (BTC) point of view, if it won't be Satoshi, then someone else in this field would have created it. So basically, it was meant to be created. I am glad that it did.

[Johnlomape]

If there was no Bitcoin, other crypto would still be dominating the space and probably one of those coins would have been the leading crypto among the rest just the way Bitcoin is the leading coin among other crypto. There was already existing ideas ideas for digital currency or cryptography, meaning that something would have still been created by someone else and that would have stood out like Bitcoin.

This is not possible at all. If Satoshi Nakamoto never thought of the idea of launching a monetary way of making transactions without the interference of the government or bank, I don't think we would be thinking about funding our wallets with Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency.

The idea of a great man was the one that lead to the adoption of cryptocurrency and from there so many devs started from creating their own coins because they know that they are going to be profitable as people start buying ans holding for future increase in the price.
Satoshi has really changed the way we see and use money and that has made the government to adoption it.

[Donneski]

Looking at how fast technology has been evolving over the years, I think it’s very possible that we would have seen something similar come up and maybe even dominated the crypto space. No doubt, Satoshi was very creative and thoughtful in creating Bitcoin but innovation doesn’t really wait for one person. However, where I strongly have doubts is whether any coin would have matched all the features that we've seen in Bitcoin. I strongly do not think that we would have seen any other coin that's decentralized, borderless, permissionless and truly peer-to-peer without any central control

Most likely, what we would have gotten would still lean towards some form of control either from governments, corporations or foundations. Bitcoin didn’t just introduce digital money, it introduced a system where trust is removed and I think that’s the hardest part to replicate.  So yes, something else might have existed but I doubt it would have been Bitcoin level neutral.

[aoluain]

Satoshi was most certainly influenced by earlier projects by the cypherpunk movement like ECash,
HashCash and B Money so I think it was going to be just a matter of time before a system was
designed if Bitcoin didnt come to fruition.

Blockchain and Cryptography technology had already existed before Bitcoin. I think a lot of people
dont realise that Bitcoin didnt just appear out of nothing.

Here is an article I wroth back in 2020 about this:

The Cypherpunks and the road to Bitcoin

[Inior]

If there was no Bitcoin, other crypto would still be dominating the space and probably one of those coins would have been the leading crypto among the rest just the way Bitcoin is the leading coin among other crypto. There was already existing ideas ideas for digital currency or cryptography, meaning that something would have still been created by someone else and that would have stood out like Bitcoin.

I admit that there were other ideas before bitcoin but who knows if they wouldn't have as smart as Satoshi to pull up such idea and make Bitcoin what it is today. There are some many projects that has been abandoned in the past due to the fact that people could find a better solution to solving the last puzzle even though it was just a simple idea yet they confused it for a complex one. So yeah even if other projects happen to have succeeded who knows if they might make a limited supply that would cause the project to increase in price like bitcoin today.

[retreat]

We'll never know what coin would have dominated if Bitcoin hadn't existed in the first place. But looking at the development of digital coins, Bitcoin isn't the only one. There were similar ideas that existed before Bitcoin's launch, but those coins were far from perfect and had many flaws that made them unreliable as digital currencies.

Satoshi was so clever that he combined various elements and was able to present Bitcoin, which is decentralized, transparent, secure, and accessible to anyone around the world. If Bitcoin hadn't existed, there might have been a digital coin that would have dominated the market, but it would likely be far from perfect and likely controlled by a corporation, unlike Bitcoin.

[Josefjix]

You can't tell to explain further what would happen in the world without Bitcoin creation. Bitcoin is an art built on intelligency which disrupt the system of governmental intimidation, that's why Satoshi has to keep his identity private because he knows he's a Savior. A Savior always ends up been killed by the government, freedom fighters just like Satoshi, but he kept himself Private which is a good step for his life.

If there wasn't Bitcoin, we would've been still been oppressed the financial system of government, thinking we are doing good, not knowing we are suffocating, but nothing we could do about it.

[Alphakilo]

Bitcoin didn't just come out of the blues even though it remains a ground breaking innovation of this century.  There was an original idea that failed and I don't know how Satoshi stumbled upon it, but he definitely made it work and it was better and still is.
The Blockchain exist, the Hadera Hashgraph exist and these are some systems on which digital currency could be made to exist along with other applications of it for programs and development on specific sectors as need be.

I wouldn't have the slightest idea what would have been if Bitcoin didn't exist, but I am sure as hell that CBDCs and many digital versions of existing currency wouldn't have seen the break of light.
Bitcoin is an innovation that opened the door to so many developments and advancement in technology that we see today, and that's a fact.

[Stalker22]

Having the understanding that Bitcoin is the main idea behind cryptocurrency and what caused it to exist after the first success we had, maybe by now there wouldn't have been anything called cryptocurrency without having Bitcoin first, this is my idea anyway because it was after the creation of Bitcoin that every other altcoin emerged, many are even interested in cryptocurrency all because of Bitcoin

The idea of cryptocurrency (or at least digital currency) existed even before Bitcoin, though I dont know if we would actually be talking about it today without success of Satoshi.  People were trying to make digital cash work for decades with things like eGold and Bit Gold, but they all failed because they were too centralized.

Bitcoin didnt just appear out of nowhere.  It was the first one to actually solve the double-spending problem without needing a middleman.  But if Satoshi had not done it, someone else probably would have tried something similar.  We can only speculate on how things might have turned out otherwise.

[tread93]

I feel like if bitcoin were not created then we were definitely on that track and eventually it would have popped up, but maybe not to the extent that it is today and perhaps it woudl even look like its decentralized but perhaps a nation state was able to pull it off or make it perhaps they would have tried. Some people say that the CIA created bitcoin and I find that hard to believe but I do think that there is some supporting evidence of that. Who knows lol its been a long time since I looked into anything like that. But one thing that I will say is that I am so glad that bitcoin was created. Its given us an alternative, somethign that has become adopted and even become the money of the internet. Thats pretty dang cool.

[Rustam Meraj]

In your what-if story, it is special nature of the Bitcoin breakthrough that would make digital money way of total state spying through CBDCs or under the control of Big Tech guards. I agree that best gift Bitcoin gave me is removal of middle man since other tries in past such as e gold failed since their leaders could be easily shut down by governments.

I think world without Bitcoin would not only have no privacy, but it would also have no money newness allowing spread out apps and un printable money. It is thanks to Bitcoin that we now make our money choices based on fact that no trust setup across world is really possible, and it has changed idea of freedom forever.

[Outhue]

Probably e-coin, binarycoin, or something called netcoin. Satoshi wasn't some million IQ level guy. He took existing technology and had the mindset to work on it until it was near-perfect to release that solved a legitimate real world problem. See "satoshi's lesson":

And yet, those million IQ level guys in the world can't even create a real decentralised digital asset? For me Nakamoto is one of them, if not even more clever than they are. This reminds me of that high level IQ Asian guy that predicted that Bitcoin will make a new ATH in March 2026, where is he now? Everyone was driven by the fact that he is a genius, and he still failed.

If Bitcoin never existed, no one can build something like Bitcoin til date, all we will have is Ethereum taking the lead, and XRP at his right side doing their things together, crypto will still  be a thing but all fully centralised across the board. Just so you know, that Bitcoin makes crypto look more like a safe place, without it the trust will be way lower.

[PrivacyG]

If Bitcoin never existed, no one can build something like Bitcoin til date, all we will have is Ethereum taking the lead, and XRP at his right side doing their things together, crypto will still  be a thing but all fully centralised across the board. Just so you know, that Bitcoin makes crypto look more like a safe place, without it the trust will be way lower.

Did you even think your Reply through before publishing it?  How can the inexistence of Bitcoin lower the Trust, considering without Bitcoin existing we would not even know about it?

'No one can build something like Bitcoin to this date' because almost each and every project that has followed Bitcoin only exists for its team to make Money, to pull the rug et cetera.  Bitcoin did it first and best and still does it best so there is no real need for a second option unless we talk about projects like Monero that prioritize Privacy.  Bitcoin is not the work of some Deity, it was not even perfect and not understanding this does not mean Satoshi was some God who brought us a new Currency to use or that it was impossible to re create something similar to it considering pretty much all concepts were already there.