Will an altcoin ever reach $1 billion market cap again?

[smoothie]

Central banks around the world are printing into oblivion so yes is my answer.

[thebfldoctor]

Could happen who knows what the next btc will be.
I tip on DEM 

[Spoetnik]

Auroracoin reached the $1 Billion Market Cap (artificially inflated) for around three quarters of a day before its mega dump.

doesn't count.

[Spoetnik]

i vote maybe but it's a long shot..

[ebliever]

To take the negative position requires:

1. That BTC remain the undisputed champion forever.
2. Or that all crypto dies out or is ruthlessly stamped out.
3. Or that Fiat currency gains value in the future, and holds that value perpetually. (Stop laughing)

Money is used in a variety of ways, and the best technical characteristics/features for each use are somewhat different. So ultimately I expect that there will be a handful (more or less) of dominant cryptocurrencies, each tailored to very specific functions and with extreme liquidity between them. You'll be paid in one crypto, trade it to another for bricks-and-mortar purchases, putting some money away in another crypto for long-term, secure savings, while your employer uses yet another crypto to pay it's suppliers. And when you go on vacation you'll use another crypto for the greatest convenience/security, and yet another for when you want maximal anonymity. And so on.

So yes, I think a number of coins will ultimately pass the $1 Billion mark. I'm surprised at the lack of traction lately in altcoins, but that may be naivity on my part. I'm hoping the survivors can build support and get some real world use/investment to drive them forward. The flood of worthless clonecoins and scams has temporarily derailed things, and competition among the contenders is going to be pretty ruthless for a while yet until clear winners for various segments emerge.

[Nullu]

Auroracoin reached the $1 Billion Market Cap (artificially inflated) for around three quarters of a day before its mega dump.

As you point out, it was artificially inflated. It took advantage of the way market cap is calculated, which multiplied value across all coins in existence, when it really should multiply value across all coins mined. Exluding massive dev premines.

[TaunSew]

Investment Gold is $2 trillion, $4 trillion asset gold, Dot.com was $7 trillion in late 1990s, recent housing bubble was $10 trillion, there's $37 trillion in investments world wide, $400 trillion in derivatives.

Not inconceivable that Bitcoin could hit $1 trillion and then a whole host of alternatives could be worth $1+ billion each.

Having a 1/1000 market cap isn't inconceivable.  Value of LTC is 1/7 of Bitcoin.  NxT and Dark are like 1/300 value of Bitcoin.

On that note if Bitcoin were to hit $1 trillion then LTC would be worth $142 billion.  NxT and Dark around $3.3 billion.


There's always the Myspace-Facebook element too, some obscure crypto could become #1 or #2 in the future.

[TaunSew]

Auroracoin reached the $1 Billion Market Cap (artificially inflated) for around three quarters of a day before its mega dump.

As you point out, it was artificially inflated. It took advantage of the way market cap is calculated, which multiplied value across all coins in existence, when it really should multiply value across all coins mined. Exluding massive dev premines.

Well that's actually most coins in existence.  It's either a premine for the developers or its' held by whales who took it all for next to nothing.  Dark was instamined by several million.  8 wallets (wallets =/= persons, aka could be socks) took 400 million NxT according to Salaczs' blog (NxT developer).


We've seen what has happened to all the 'fair distribution' coins.  The capitalization simply doesn't hold as you can't control 1000 - 3000+ wallets.  Even Stellar is seeing that with their tens of thousands of wallets where people are dumping instantly just to get $10.

[matt608]

I would be very surprised if this hadn't happened within 2 years from now.

[Febo]

Of Course It will and first one that will do it will be LTC.

But that dont mean i think LTC will stay as number 2 coin for really long time.

[thebfldoctor]

Yes, A-coin