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

[Dreadboost]

Bitcoin was the origin of cryptocurrency if bitcoin was not created I’m not sure we would’ve had something like cryptocurrency. We need to remember that bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency that was created and after it was created, it’s now started giving birth to order cryptocurrency so if Satoshi Nakamoto did not create bitcoin. I don’t think any other person would have the idea of cryptocurrency so for me if bitcoin was not in existence, cryptocurrency wouldn’t have also been in existence. I always respect Satoshi Nakamoto for creating bitcoin because he was the origin of cryptocurrency and for the fact he decided to make himself anonymous is the reason I respect him the more not everyone can decide to keep themselves anonymous after creating something as successful as bitcoin, but he did it for bitcoin to get more value.

Bitcoin was not the first digital currency that was created, if you do more research on the topic. But Bitcoin was the first successful digital currency that made other currencies relevant. Because of Bitcoin's existence, other projects were acceptable, believing they would provide a different solution from what Bitcoin has provided. That led to the era of digital currencies, airdrops, mining, IEO, and ICO. If you observe most of the cryptocurrencies that made waves during the era when the good words about Bitcoin spread far and wide, those coins were successful provided that they have good usage and are here to solve a solution. Other digital currencies have tried and failed, while Bitcoin tried and stayed with us.

[Text]

the idea of digital money would still exist even w/o Bitcoin but it would likely have evolved in a much more centralised direction. I think the biggest winners in that scenario would be governments & big tech. Big tech stepping in is a very real possibility.

I don’t think decentralisation would be gone forever.

I think w/o Bitcoin we’d probably be living in a more centralised financial world today w/ fewer choices & less privacy.

[davis196]

Trying to answer such "What if?" questions is fun, but I can't find any value in such discussion.
The possible options are two. 1.If Bitcoin was never created, another Proof-of-Work decentralized cryptocurrency with a limited total supply would have been created, but the name would be different.
2.If Bitcoin was never created, Proof-of-Stake cryptocurrencies like Ethereum would dominate the crypto world.
I don't believe a third option, where if Bitcoin was never created, cryptocurrencies would never exist and the entire digital world would be dominated by centralized digital currencies. The idea about a truly decentralized online currency was floating around way before BTC was invented and I can assume that 2009 was the right time(in terms of technological advancements) for BTC to be created.

[melinoe]

the idea of digital money would still exist even w/o Bitcoin but it would likely have evolved in a much more centralised direction. I think the biggest winners in that scenario would be governments & big tech. Big tech stepping in is a very real possibility.

I don’t think decentralisation would be gone forever.

I think w/o Bitcoin we’d probably be living in a more centralised financial world today w/ fewer choices & less privacy.

Or it would be something like BTC with a different name and concepts to some of the processes that happen on the back, we may never know .One thing for sure - it would be something different to what we have now, for better or worse of it.

[Peanutswar]

Well i guess with the same efficiency of the bitcoin and I just have a guess still into digital currency which is becomes more favor to the community but the difference is possible its regulated with the government or i guess more easy to say like the CBDC for easy and accessible or else could be dominate at the market are still with the large scale industry of stocks. The bitcoin aim for anonymity but if it doesn't exist we all comply with the mandate submissions of identification.

[Aanuoluwatofunmi]

The reason for cryptocurrency was bitcoin and there wouldn't have been any crypto had it been bitcoin was not a success in the first place, people are more interested about how they could take advantage of Bitcoin investment in cryptocurrency and also engage in other altcoins along the line, bitcoin was the originality that birth to altcoins, that is why after Bitcoin, all you could discover our alternative currencies.

[Razmirraz]

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

If Bitcoin had never existed, it is likely that the crypto space would not be as we know it today or would be smaller in scope and not as decentralized as Bitcoin. The impact on the crypto space without Bitcoin would likely be dominated by centralized payment systems like Visa, PayPal, or CBDC. Fiat pegged stablecoins may become dominant because they offer the price stability needed for mainstream adoption. Moreover, the Digital Gold narrative would probably never have existed without Bitcoin as the crypto space has focused more on technological functionality than on being a store of value.

However, if the assumption is that blockchain technology continues to develop even without the presence of decentralized Bitcoin, there may be several other coins that will dominate as top candidates such as Ethereum As a pioneer of smart contracts, XRP is designed for fast and cheap cross-border transactions, Litecoin may also be considered because besides being known as the first "copycat" of Bitcoin, its transaction speed is also higher.
 

[Joy- maker]

Asking about what if like this is unrealistic and I don't think it is necessary.

Before Bitcoin, people created other projects and if Satoshi Nakamoto did not create Bitcoin project, there will be other people create other projects with other names. These projects can succeed like Bitcoin or fail like previous projects before Bitcoin or altcoin projects after Bitcoin. But with continuous developments, human society will figure out ways to build up a successful project even without Satoshi Nakamoto.

Bitcoin prehistory.

Assuming you read my post carefully you could have saw were i said that let's step outside reality for a moment. And am fully aware that before bitcoin, there where projects that existed which they failed because they relied on central authority.

I am the type of person who doesn't think the way most people do, i think differently and creatively. the question i asked was as a result of what i read online, under the comment section some people argued that something else could have dominated the crypto space if bitcoin was never created, what could have really be dominated right now if bitcoin never existed? and who could have created that project?
 

[YOSHIE]

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

If cars were nothing to dominate cars today, of course we would see trains and others, as well as Bitcoin.
This world was created specifically to give birth to the best generations to create things for human life. If Bitcoin didn't exist, of course we would see other extraordinary things, maybe we will dominate with digital Gold and Physical Gold, Digital Assets/Cryptography make it possible to adapt to Blockchain Technology, which makes it possible to become digital assets in the current era, such as Bitcoin.

That's my instinct, what is clear is that global scientists and professionals are not left alone to develop something by utilizing Blockchain Technology and so on.

[DiMarxist]

The world we find ourselves is actually evolving and you don't expect the world to be static, we have seen a lot of innovations that has changed the course of history. Bitcoin has positively impacted the financial system if there were no Bitcoin there would still be a system that would be something close to Bitcoin but the fact is that such a system cannot exactly do the work Bitcoin is doing today.It should be noted that bitcoin was not the first attempt by anyone to create something like crypto currency there has been other projects which has been developed in the past but was not successful like Bitcoin.

[macson]

There will definitely be something else that will dominate. We don't know for sure what it is because we're just imagining it here. Could it be digital gold? It could be --- or something else.

But if Bitcoin hadn't existed in the first place, we might never have access to a digital currency as good as this. Others might say there are "satoshis" out there who could come up with an idea like this. But I don't think it would be as good as the Bitcoin we know today.

But that's just imagination, because in reality, we already have Bitcoin, and that's all that matters.