Why Newbies Must Know the Difference Between Bitcoin and Altcoins

[Xackie]

For sometimes now I have noticed that many  newbies often have the idea that Bitcoin and Altcoins are basically the same thing (For context I also thought it was the same when I first got the idea of Cryptocurrency). They think that the only difference between them is just their price and name. I have noticed some newbies on this forum making that mistakes alot. The important thing is to understand the difference early because it can help newbies avoid unnecessary mistakes and unrealistic expectations.
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‎Bitcoin is like a rare mineral, it's decentralized whereby nobody can think of controlling it, doesn't need hype to perform, trusted and backed by big institutions,  gaining massive adoption from people and some governments especially from Countries like El Salvador, who are using as one of their main payments system. Apart from that it has strong security, Scarcity (21 million Total supply) , and finally a strong reputation amongst other forms of crypto. For over many years now, people have been using it as a long term store of value and wealth growth. Bitcoin has proven itself from time to time or should I say has survived the worst type of market conditions, without ever failing unlike Alts that crashes anyhow.
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‎Altcoins on the other hand are just  cheap copies of Bitcoin, they try to do what Bitcoin does at faster rates but fails. They don't have good utility because 99.9% of them are driven by speculation and hype from its communities. Without hype, they die off, which is why it has higher risk rate. Their dev can decide to dump on their community. One mistake many newbies make, is assuming that  some Altcoins can be the next Bitcoin. Because of this kind of nonsense mindset, you will now see them jumpimg into random projects blindly without even thinking about the risks involved.
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‎Yes both of them are risky, but Altcoins have more risk than Bitcoin. Newbies who wants to begin that investment journey should not  put their focus on these Altcoins at their early stage of investment. Because they are not good as long term projects except you are someone who wants to make quick money off them ( You will lose a lot). Invest what you can afford, be patient and disciplined and doesn't let your mindset or people (e..g. fake influencers) deceive you that you can make quick money off Bitcoin or Altcoins. I think knowing this difference early helps beginners make better decisions instead of following hype blindly or expecting every coin to perform like Bitcoin.

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[Creeper0]

For sometimes now I have noticed that many  newbies often have the idea that Bitcoin and Altcoins are basically the same thing (For context I also thought it was the same when I first got the idea of Cryptocurrency). They think that the only difference between them is just their price and name. I have noticed some newbies on this forum making that mistakes alot. The important thing is to understand the difference early because it can help newbies avoid unnecessary mistakes and unrealistic expectations.
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You will never be able to make a child understand the difference between good water and bad water until that child understands the difference between good water and bad water through knowledge. For this, he needs to gain knowledge about both waters.

A new person in Bitcoin has to start from the beginning, that is, from the word crypto. So it is important for them to gain knowledge in both Bitcoin and Shitcoin, at this time they will think of Bitcoin and Shitcoin as the same, this is normal. But it is important whether they understand the difference between Bitcoin and Shitcoin by gradually gaining knowledge. Learning comes from mistakes, so it would be wise to view the mistakes of beginners positively. I do not expect a newbie to know everything at the beginning.

[Fivestar4everMVP]

‎Yes both of them are risky, but Altcoins have more risk than Bitcoin. Newbies who wants to begin that investment journey should not  put their focus on these Altcoins at their early stage of investment. Because they are not good as long term projects except you are someone who wants to make quick money off them ( You will lose a lot). Invest what you can afford, be patient and disciplined and doesn't let your mindset or people (e..g. fake influencers) deceive you that you can make quick money off Bitcoin or Altcoins. I think knowing this difference early helps beginners make better decisions instead of following hype blindly or expecting every coin to perform like Bitcoin.

Are you saying all of this from your personal experience or are you simply saying this based on what you've read other people say?
As much as I completely agree with you and generally that investing in bitcoin is much safer than investing in altcoins, like we all know that altcoins investments comes with a great deal of risk, but then you didn't talk about that difference also in profit potentials.

I completely agree and will never advice any newbie to invest in altcoins first because their chances of making the wrong choice of altcoin to invest in Is very high, but then, they should not fail to explore the market when they finally have gained a very good knowledge of how the market is and operates.
Investing in bitcoin can give your money the security it needs with the good profit potential in the long term.
But carefully investing in the right altcoins is also a true risky investment than can earn you great amount of profit in the short or long term depending on the altcoin.

[New Judgement]

Firstly 99.9 of Altcoins are not driven by hype and speculations. There are Altcoins out there that have real life utility and their prices are driven by the products. It’s unfortunate that some Altcoins and meme coins out there are giving bad names to the genuine Altcoins out there that are solving real life problems. Altcoins like BNB, Ethereum, Solana to mention only few has proven to solve real life problems. So it’s entirely wrong for you to say that all Altcoins are bad and have no real life utility. If you are saying newbies should avoid Altcoins it’s understandable, but trying to make all Altcoins look bad is not is misleading and false.

[Silverstonez]

To cut the whole story short bitcoin is the original cryptocurrency, while altcoins refer to every other cryptocurrency created after Bitcoin, And the word altcoins means alternative coins.

Bitcoin was created to act as clear peer to peer electric cash system, when Banks collapse during the global financial crisis and government belled them. But, altcoins on the other hand are created for different purpose beyond payment.

Bitcoin is also the most trusted cryptocurrency worldwide,  but adoption of altcoins depends on the specific project.  Although, there are a lot more to say on this topic, but I will end it here and allow others to share their own views.

[Chinesebaby]

‎Yes both of them are risky, but Altcoins have more risk than Bitcoin. Newbies who wants to begin that investment journey should not  put their focus on these Altcoins at their early stage of investment. Because they are not good as long term projects except you are someone who wants to make quick money off them ( You will lose a lot). Invest what you can afford, be patient and disciplined and doesn't let your mindset or people (e..g. fake influencers) deceive you that you can make quick money off Bitcoin or Altcoins. I think knowing this difference early helps beginners make better decisions instead of following hype blindly or expecting every coin to perform like Bitcoin.

And not only should newbies not focus on Altcoin when starting their investment journey, but they shouldn't invest in altcoins at all, due to its high volatility and the chances of its developer dumping it at anytime, unlike Bitcoin which is fully decentralized and it's growth is fully backed by its community of active users who believe in the project, due to the fact that it offers investors the privilege to have full control over their assets, and likewise some people here in Nigeria invest in Bitcoin as a way or medium to avoid inflation. So Bitcoin is the best asset newbies should prioritize, rather than focusing on multiple shit and meme coins.

[Sammye3]

I still beleive that there is a bit of misconception here too, because aside bitcoin there are few altcoins like Ethereum and Solana that possess the value bitcoin brings so it would be unfair to address bitcoin like an entirely different project that provides a different purpose. Just like bitcoin is a store of value, there are still investors who put their money into Ethereum, Solana and other reliable altcoins so that should act as a store of value too.

I don't see what bitcoin has that other altcoins do not have, aside better decentralization, security system and built trust from its existence as the first cryptocurrency. Bitcoin is the real deal but cannot stand alone without altcoins, it needs competition to be at the top and provide distinctive initiatives to set it apart from altcoins.

[_act_]

Yes both of them are risky, but Altcoins have more risk than Bitcoin

Bitcoin is not risky.

If you are losing, do not sell but buy more bitcoin instead. If you continuing buying it like DCA, you will later finally conclude that our mind is only deceiving us, and accept that bitcoin is not risky.

Also you will conclude that fiat that looks stable is what that is risky.

[Livingleged]

I completely agree and will never advice any newbie to invest in altcoins first because their chances of making the wrong choice of altcoin to invest in Is very high, but then, they should not fail to explore the market when they finally have gained a very good knowledge of how the market is and operates.
Investing in bitcoin can give your money the security it needs with the good profit potential in the long term.
But carefully investing in the right altcoins is also a true risky investment than can earn you great amount of profit in the short or long term depending on the altcoin.

You seemed to be one sided, you only talked about the good part of the altcoin and forget to talk more about the bad which is the high risk involved. honestly to me Altcoins are not worth investing on because it is just maybe 5% of people make that profit you’re talking about the 95% end up bankrupting them self.

 It’s is evident that loses from altcoin investment are way more than the profits made, Which in bitcoin it is the opposite. For a newbie Altcoin should be a no go area if you ask my opinion

Newbie  should try accumulating bitcoin with DCA and you’ll appreciate the result in few years, we all know chasing instant result is what always causes instant destruction. Trying what you’re not sure about make you’re finances to be exposed.

[fredericktaylor]

‎Yes both of them are risky, but Altcoins have more risk than Bitcoin. Newbies who wants to begin that investment journey should not  put their focus on these Altcoins at their early stage of investment. Because they are not good as long term projects except you are someone who wants to make quick money off them ( You will lose a lot). Invest what you can afford, be patient and disciplined and doesn't let your mindset or people (e..g. fake influencers) deceive you that you can make quick money off Bitcoin or Altcoins. I think knowing this difference early helps beginners make better decisions instead of following hype blindly or expecting every coin to perform like Bitcoin.

Every investment has its risks, there is no such investment that is completely risk-free, but you need to understand where you should invest and where you should not invest, it is completely foolish to make an investment decision without knowing anything and just hoping to make money quickly.

I think it is very important for an investor to have a long-term plan and mindset from the beginning of the investment, investing with a short-term plan in the hope of making money quickly is completely risky, as a result the chances of losing money increase manifold. Of course an investor should know and understand, invest small amounts consistently with a long-term plan and it is very important not to get disappointed quickly during market volatility and use every opportunity properly and wait for better times in the future, as a result the investment risk is reduced and there is a possibility of making money.

I never compare Bitcoin with Altcoins. The investment decision is completely your personal decision. I like to invest in Bitcoin, I do not like to invest in Altcoins because the chances of losing money are the highest. Investing in Bitcoin with a long-term plan is wise.

[Emjay24]

trusted and backed by big institutions, ‎

Bitcoin isn't backed by big institutions because without them, it would still be functioning very well because of it's decentralized nature. Bitcoin however is backed by energy, computational power, math and code, these are the backbone of bitcoin of which bitcoin cannot function without them.

It is good to know the difference between bitcoin and altcoin/Shitcoins, not all of them die off immediately, but they are very much of lower value with respect to bitcoin and none of them fits in as a store of value and a proven investment prospect like bitcoin.

[EL MOHA]

Firstly 99.9 of Altcoins are not driven by hype and speculations. There are Altcoins out there that have real life utility and their prices are driven by the products. It’s unfortunate that some Altcoins and meme coins out there are giving bad names to the genuine Altcoins out there that are solving real life problems. Altcoins like BNB, Ethereum, Solana to mention only few has proven to solve real life problems. So it’s entirely wrong for you to say that all Altcoins are bad and have no real life utility. If you are saying newbies should avoid Altcoins it’s understandable, but trying to make all Altcoins look bad is not is misleading and false.

In as much as it seems over stretched to you it is not, yes you can say that there are some altcoins which are used for some certain utility but even from your list you cannot take out more than ten that are actually with utility rather they are just repetitive coins without no real value or utility and that’s why at every bearish market you see many coins dying with it.

The 99.9% of all Altcoins been useless or just pump and dump coins are actually correct because there are more than 10,000 coins and tokens out there and 99.9% of 10,000 is 9,990 coins which are useless and that’s means 10 as altcoins with utility, isn’t 10 even more because I don’t think we have more than 10 as real world coins in my opinion

[The Founding Titan]

Bitcoin is itself, altcoins are any other cryptocurrency that you can find out there that are not bitcoin, most of them are attempts at creating something like bitcoin but that just means that they are copies and are no where near the authenticity of the original, if you are looking to invest and you actually want your investment to yield anything then it's best if you invest in bitcoin, the risk is there but you chances of success are higher with bitcoin than with any altcoin but if you want to still risk playing with them then you still can, the choice is yours.

[Mhizlove]

In addition newbies are supposed to understand why bitcoin is different and not only because it's the oldest among others. You see bitcoin has a simple gocu6and a long track record that makes people to trust it, while alot of altcoins is still on experiment with ideas that has not stand the test of time. Note, it do not mean that all altcoins are not useful or they're worthless, it's just that they carry more uncertainty. So as a beginner it's wise to learn well, move with patience, and do not rush into it because of the hype because in this space,than you going after quick gains, a calm mind and understanding is more valuable

[Realwhot]

You have made an important point which many novices don't realize on time. Even though  Bitcoin and Altcoins are called crypto currency the amount of trust and decentralization and long term survival are very different. Bitcoin has already gained its reputation in terms of security, adoption and even survival during shaking markets conditions markets over the years. Altcoins rely on the community hype and trends to remain in the light  with them   still not able to displace Bitcoin's dominance in this field.
Your point on having unrealistic expectations is also one that I agree with. A lot of  newbies start into random projects believing they discovered the next Bitcoin according to them and only come out with dead coins when the media hype is gone. Knowing the difference early  can help to avoid expensive decisions regarding their emotions and avoid losses

[casey15]

Your comparison is exactly what needs to be heard by most newcomers to crypto. They group everything as 'crypto' while having little understanding that Bitcoin operates very different from almost all Altcoins. The reasons why Bitcoin is seen differently by governments/institutions is due to its scarcity, decentralisation and security and other features. A major mistake most new users make is thinking that all the meme and shitcoins  coins out there can eventually reach Bitcoin's level. The majority of Altcoins fail after only 1 cycle because they  rely on marketing and media hype especially Twitter gurus. The  new users who are ready to educate themselves have patience and manage risk will prevent many of the painful mistakes beginners make in this space.

[Donneski]

There's a reason why Bitcoin is Bitcoin while every other coin that's not Bitcoin is referred to altcoin(Alternative Coin). So as a newbie, the first thing you should do is understand why any coin that's not Bitcoin is referred to as "alternative", doing that will give you a good understanding on why you should choose Bitcoin and if for any reason you decide to go altcoins, you'll also know that the particular coin is worth the risk. It's that simple.