Why is BITCOIN more expensive than other cryptocurrency?

[sydneyjames]

Its been established and it was the first of its kind. The first of anything gets the recognition even if its not technically the best. It will take a very long time for any other crypto to get close to Bitcoin

[Bit_Happy]

4500 physical shops accept bitcoin and many websites as well

hundreds of thousands of users use bitcoin

in other words bitcoin has much more support, and there's the value.

Why is facebook worth billions and myspace worthless? Same reason.

What if MySpace uses Bitcoin so bands can sell their music (competing with iTunes), and it fuels a huge comeback, since it will be the first "major" social network where people can use BTC? Facebook then sees people using Myspace in bigger numbers, and they also introduce BTC.  

[jonald_fyookball]

Its also the most expensive because people are needing to buy BTC to get hold of other alts like NXT, Darkcoin, etc.

I think there will be some tough competition for BTC in the not too distant future however.

NXT has the most advanced technology behind it, and if people want privacy, well theres a few options in altcoins...

NXT and Proof of Stake cannot be decentralized. If you base the longest chain on most stake chain past owners (who sold) can create parallel chain and reverse the entire chain. Even exchanges which had at some point in the past huge amount of coins can create a chain with big stake in it.

As for Darkcoin I dont see the point of it since bitcoin has darkwallet  and the infrastructure.

Mostly agree......I think bitcoin will be fine for anonymity, although.......will be interesting to see darkcoin and litecoin duke it out??

Nxt is interesting but has the "nothing at stake" problem.....the nxt folks are making a mountain out of a molehill when it comes to bitcoin's energy consumption, which is not really an issue if actually write down some numbers.....and also, nxt is bad for cold storage since you have your wallet open to secure the network.

[Ron~Popeil]

4500 physical shops accept bitcoin and many websites as well

hundreds of thousands of users use bitcoin

in other words bitcoin has much more support, and there's the value.

Why is facebook worth billions and myspace worthless? Same reason.

What if MySpace uses Bitcoin so bands can sell their music (competing with iTunes), and it fuels a huge comeback, since it will be the first "major" social network where people can use BTC? Facebook then sees people using Myspace in bigger numbers, and they also introduce BTC.  

That would be an excellent idea for them. I always liked the site but hated the feature that would play music every time I visited someones page. I was a poor college kid at the time so it was invariably in the library that this would happen. 

[Cream]

I think because firstly bitcoin was the first digital crypto currency and the code Is smartly made that all alts these days couldn't compare with It. But basically first come first serve so that's what happened with bitcoin but there other factors of course like I said It's smartly made.

[JPred]

Bitcoin price initially was very low (like alts atm) in comparison to where it is today. Maybe some (a few) alts will also become a rocket like bitcoin. Also, if you look at the nature of things, it is always diverse, so I think diversity in crypto's not bad, but unity in diversity is advisable.

[justusranvier]

Most Bitcoin newbie ask this question:
Why is BITCOIN more expensive than other cryptocurrency?

Bitcoin was the first in the market, that's why you are starting to see a lot of fortune 500 companies starting to support Bitcoin.
Sure, once in a while, they'll throw money around on the table to support other cryptocurrency coins.

http://themisescircle.org/blog/2013/08/22/the-problem-with-altcoins/

[LAMarcellus]

The price of any good will reflect 2 things;
The scarcity of that good and its utility.

Cars, food, hookers, bitcoin. Scarcity and usefulness.

I point newbs towards this piece by Erik Voorheis.
http://evoorhees.blogspot.com/2012/04/bitcoin-libertarian-introduction.html

[ShadowOfHarbringer]

Most Bitcoin newbie ask this question:
Why is BITCOIN more expensive than other cryptocurrency?

Bitcoin was the first in the market, that's why you are starting to see a lot of fortune 500 companies starting to support Bitcoin.
Sure, once in a while, they'll throw money around on the table to support other cryptocurrency coins.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_effect
[/TOPIC]

Seriously, this topic can now be closed. There is nothing more to say here.

[lynn_402]

Bitcoin price initially was very low (like alts atm) in comparison to where it is today. Maybe some (a few) alts will also become a rocket like bitcoin. Also, if you look at the nature of things, it is always diverse, so I think diversity in crypto's not bad, but unity in diversity is advisable.

That's well said. I hate to see the hate that can happen between owners of different coin; although of course a bit of competition is always nice as it makes one get incencitives to grow.

Let's never forget that all the coins are in the same team against fiat currencies

[Buffer Overflow]

Yes for working people that are new to bitcoin, its hard for them to get in.
If they hear they cant mine it anymore, and the price to buy it is to high for them.

This makes zero sense.

If you want to buy $10 worth of bitcoins, then you can buy $10 worth of bitcoins regardless of their price.

[Beliathon]

why are altcoins so cheap, worthless and dont hold value for long

Redundancy is not highly valued compared to innovation.

[Peter R]

Yes for working people that are new to bitcoin, its hard for them to get in.
If they hear they cant mine it anymore, and the price to buy it is to high for them.

Today you can buy 1920 bits for a dollar (last week you could get 2300 bits for each dollar).  So for $100 you can buy 192,000 bits, which is quite a lot, right?  

[leopard2]

I believe it is a risk management issue. There are two things people will consider when deciding which crypto to buy:

1. For interim usage to make a purchase - in this case it does not matter which coin in used because it is converted from and to fiat right away. To send someone $100, it is unimportant whether you send DOGE or BTC or something else. What is important here? Acceptance. And BTC has the best acceptance, period. 

2. For speculation or store of value - in this case, altcoins are risiker but also have more potential. But for large volume investors, altcoins have an elevated risk. It is much more likely for altcoin XYZ to vanish than BTC. Often it is said, why should BTC be the winner, others are cheaper. But these people forget that such a cheap coin carries a much larger risk to go under. Miners stop mining it, people stop buying it, coin dies. 

You could also ask, why are people not exchanging USD for Nigerian Naira (for example), it is so much cheaper. Maybe, but 1. and 2. apply to any foreign currency as well, so people tend to stick with the majors. 

[ranlo]

Bitcoin price initially was very low (like alts atm) in comparison to where it is today. Maybe some (a few) alts will also become a rocket like bitcoin. Also, if you look at the nature of things, it is always diverse, so I think diversity in crypto's not bad, but unity in diversity is advisable.

Far too many people think that altcoins are going to go up over the next 4 years. The issue here is that they are tied to Bitcoin. For the collective value of altcoins to go up by 50%, BTC has to go up by 50%. This is because there can't be more value in alts than there are in BTC, or we'd end up with another partial reserve system.

[BTCisthefuture]

Yes for working people that are new to bitcoin, its hard for them to get in.
If they hear they cant mine it anymore, and the price to buy it is to high for them.

This makes zero sense.

If you want to buy $10 worth of bitcoins, then you can buy $10 worth of bitcoins regardless of their price.

most average people who don't know much about bitcoin don't realize that though.  They hear $500 for a bitcoin , think they cant afford it, and look no further.


of course, that should change in the coming years/decades. wasn't that long ago the average person didn't know how to set up an email account either.

[coindozer7]

Bitcoin is like the gold in crytocurrency, and Litecoin is like a silver, and other cryptocurrencies are just minerals as of today.
I think Bitcoin is the first main cryptocurrency that has gone mainstream and that's been successful to able to reach at its current state today after 5 years. It has the most trade volume and attention from investors and users that it's definitely is more expensive that other cryptocurrencies.

[Pobre]

BTC is old, hence it has more buyers and more markets than altcoins, and moreover the media also sometimes help in publicizing btc. these reasons make btc better than other cryptos.

[CryptoCurrencyInc.com]

Bitcoin has a catchy name, it also has good meaning. "Bit" have a lot to do with computer programming, and electronics. "Coin" has the meaning of currency. When combine together you get the idea of digital currency or true electronic currency of the modern age; made for the civilized men, women, and children world wide. That's another reason Bitcoin's price will always be higher than other cryptocurrency.

[acs267]

The demand is higher. Over 60,000 merchants use Bitcoin. And it's not too scarce, but there's also not too much.