The only reason Bitcoin is more valuable then other altcoins

[R2D221]

Namecoin had a huge innovation on its hands with its integrated domain system that could lead to the web becoming decentralized. Imagine if bitcoin integrated something like that, we would see massive growth. However it seems many people in the Bitcoin community look down on any new innovation and don't want to see the protocol progress.

Namecoin has a different purpose than Bitcoin. It's not an improvement, but a different product. As simple as that.

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[tooil]

Network effect, media attention and merchant acceptance advantage from bitcoin far outweigh protocol and innovation being made on other coins.

Beside, users in general do not react to change positively and other coins change far too often.

[franky1]

I think your purposefully turning a blind eye to the innovation happening with altcoins.

then purposefully open my eyes,, come on in your opinion what is the top altcoin that is considered a proper contender to bitcoin that has atlast 20 different uses, and atleast try listing as many of those uses,,,

[moriartybitcoin]

market is much too small to support value for multiple altcoins. I could invent an altcoin in about 10 minutes and it wouldn't be worth half a farthing ...

[Skoupi]

Bitcoin is more valuable (some might say that it is the only valuable cc) because it does everything that is supposed to do.
Of course it has some issues (scalability etc.) but i don't see any of those issues addressed by any alt coin.

Don't expect a coin to overthrow bitcoin because it has pos vs pow, or because it is 100% premined, or because it is written from scratch etc...

about scalability non-issue... there was a post couple days ago on reditt about it...

I 'm not talking about tps scalability and how the network can handle it. I 'm talking about other issues like the db size that can somewhat reduce decentralization. Nothing critical though and if you could post that link it would be nice...

[Adrian-x]

The only reason Bitcoin is more valuable then other altcoins is first mover advantage. It's the truth if you compare bitcoin to a lot of alt coins on the technical side Bitcoin is lacking heavily. If the Protocol was updated to do something more like a lot of altcoins do I feel this is what would truly make the Bitcoin price sky rocket.

It appears to me the only benefit that you get from first mover advantage is the network effect, and the network effect alone can be used to account for the value to date by applying Metcalfe's Law .

That said, spin-offs allow innovative alts to leverage Bitcoin's network effect.

Rather than put all the innovation in Bitcoin it's more practical to distribute the risk and and reward and leverage the Bitcoin network which represents the most effective distribution of crypto coins to date.

Bitcoin will always be the one, but free market innovation will find solutions to problems Bitcoin can't solve. So given the opportunity for an infinite number of alts, creating a launch cost that leverages innovation and not wealth is the only way alts will grow, but they don't take market away from Bitcoin but add to the overall effect.

[freedomno1]

OP thinks bitcoin is only big because its first. ha ha ha ha ha

what a narrow minded idea.

the truth is that bitcoin is more successful because more then a few thousand people are being paid wages purely in bitcoin,
the truth is that bitcoin is more successful because more then a 100,000 merchants accepting bitcoin
the truth is that bitcoin is more successful because more then 50 separate ways to get bitcoin<->FIAT
 
its called infrastructure, now name me one altcoin that has this usefulness!!

Yep it has the infrastructure built in and the code is very solid
And regardless of how much we rail on the dev team they do try to improve upon it with BIP's
For now Bitcoin has utility and I don't see that changing any time in the future
After all a proven case is needed for others to spring forth and Bitcoin is serving that role in crytocurrencies.

[ticoti]

obviously it is because it was the first one
but that is obvious,it happens with many things
it is the oldest one and the biggest community

[Skoupi]

obviously it is because it was the first one

I guess you found this thread through lycos or maybe altavista... 

[Cubic Earth]

Liquidity.  Bitcoin has the most liquidity of any cryptocurrency by 1 -2 orders of magnitude.  That is because it was the first technology to address the problem of decentralized trust.

It will be very hard, if not impossible, for any new coin to surpass bitcoin in terms of liquidity.

The other thing to consider is that bitcoin was allowed to incubate in relative obscurity for the first couple of years, well before 0.1% of humanity had ever heard of such a concept.  Any new coins will have to attain their liquidity in a very different environment.

So yes, it is the most valuable because it was first.  But do not underestimate the importance of being first.

[bitcoinanon]

Interesting that nobody repeats what Andreas Antonopoulus says about other crypto-currencies. He has said that he thinks there might be millions of crypto-coins being used in the coming decades. HE is the Bitcoin Guy. The Host of Lets talk Bitcoin, perhaps he knows a thing or two. It is sad that so many are quick to judge based on charts and forum posts. Is it really appropriate to call other crypto-currencies scams when are current economic system is already scamming us? I would take any crypto-coin in the #20 spots on coinmarketcap.com over fiat.  

Have you guys heard we are due for a "Global Reset"? Newsflash banks do whatever they want. fiat=scam

[bbit]

The only reason Bitcoin is more valuable then other altcoins is first mover advantage. It's the truth if you compare bitcoin to a lot of alt coins on the technical side Bitcoin is lacking heavily. If the Protocol was updated to do something more like a lot of altcoins do I feel this is what would truly make the Bitcoin price sky rocket.

Like what does this even mean? ^^   what does it lack ? All the other alt coins are basically scams.

[cryptopaths]

The only reason Bitcoin is more valuable then other altcoins is first mover advantage. It's the truth if you compare bitcoin to a lot of alt coins on the technical side Bitcoin is lacking heavily. If the Protocol was updated to do something more like a lot of altcoins do I feel this is what would truly make the Bitcoin price sky rocket.

Like what does this even mean? ^^   what does it lack ? All the other alt coins are basically scams.

If that's the case then why do you have this in your signature?: BTCinstant.com - BUY GiftCards with AltCoins!

Lol so much irony.

[justusranvier]

Bitcoin is valuable because it's an sufficiently large improvement over what came before, invented by someone who understood money and cryptography both at the same time.

None of the altcoins have all three of those qualities at the same time.

Most of them are monuments to ignorance about cryptography, or money, or both.

[foggyb]

The only reason Bitcoin is more valuable then other altcoins is first mover advantage. It's the truth if you compare bitcoin to a lot of alt coins on the technical side Bitcoin is lacking heavily. If the Protocol was updated to do something more like a lot of altcoins do I feel this is what would truly make the Bitcoin price sky rocket.

Like what does this even mean? ^^   what does it lack ? All the other alt coins are basically scams.

If that's the case then why do you have this in your signature?: BTCinstant.com - BUY GiftCards with AltCoins!

Lol so much irony.

Because someone paid him. You could pay me to use altcoins. Otherwise, I'm not interested in any current altcoin as a serious alternative to bitcoin.

The only reason altcoins have any value > 0 is BECAUSE bitcoin came first.

[johnyj]

Winner takes it all. Besides, all the altcoins are inflation in crytocurrency world, this is directly against the fundamental purpose of bitcoin - anti-inflation

[BittBurger]

If the Protocol was updated to do something more like a lot of altcoins do I feel this is what would truly make the Bitcoin price sky rocket.

Yep.  I've been saying this for months.  And getting poo-poo'd.  As the protocol sits with very little enhancement after an entire year now.  As Gavin stated recently:  Development has come nearly grounding to a halt due to bickering and differences of opinion.   Thats super.  Not like its the most important financial innovation of the last 500 years or anything.  

The excuse that it cant be modified heavily because its such an important piece of software is only going to be a valid excuse for so long.  (the whole "enhancing a plane while in flight" reference too).  

And forget the other alt coins.  Bitcoin needs features that make it usable to the various financial industries.  Or some solution which allows for extending its capabilities to usurp those industries.   But alas, this suggestion, like all the others, is met with shrugged shoulders as far as I can tell.  Tree Chains, Sidechains, whatever ... someone needs to take the reigns and get development moving.  Now.  Fast.  Not next year.  Not in five years.  Fewer excuses.  More action.

It doesn't matter how much we love bitcoin.  If its not in a usable form to the various financial services out there, its simply not going to be used.  And there go all your hopes of "to the moon".  Whether we admit it or not, we are all relying on Bitcoins "Programmability".  Its ability to be enhanced.  But its not being enhanced.  (!!!).  And all talk of enhancements are "years off".   If people in these industries have a first glance at Bitcoin and see an insanely limited, basic feature set, they will simply walk away.  Some already have.

There is a laundry list of features that could be safely added to Bitcoin which would make it usable in numerous financial industries.  And the items on that list simply aren't being added.  This is my biggest and only concern about the long term viability of Bitcoin.

-B-

[doubleredrolex]

The only reason Bitcoin is more valuable then other altcoins is first mover advantage. It's the truth if you compare bitcoin to a lot of alt coins on the technical side Bitcoin is lacking heavily.

Bitcoin isn't lacking heavily on technology... Bitcoin IS the technology. First one in existence and the first one out of the gate. Most all of the alt coins are junk copies with added crap. Only a handful actually serve a purpose and will survive over the next couple years. Bitcoin could be changed but why? Its trusted and well known the way it is. We will have Bitcoin for normal everyday use and Darkcoin for anonymous transactions. Thats all we will need.

[phillipsjk]

... It is sad that so many are quick to judge based on charts and forum posts. Is it really appropriate to call other crypto-currencies scams when are current economic system is already scamming us? I would take any crypto-coin in the #20 spots on coinmarketcap.com over fiat.  
...

Many alt-coins do appear to be scams. Somebody was good enough to Write up a guide for spotting them.
Edit2: A guide investigating Insta-mines.

I have been told the the innovative cryptonote-based bytecoin appears to be a scam (80% pre-mine with false history of "stealth mining"). I hope to investigate how true that allegation is when I have time because I like the innovation. (Ring signatures being used to provide privacy.)

Edit: I should add that Bitcoin is still an experiment. Major changes to the protocol may invalidate any experimental results. One question Bitcoin should answer within the next 15 years is: "Is it possible to have a secure networked application?"

[Mobius]

The only reason Bitcoin is more valuable then other altcoins is first mover advantage. It's the truth if you compare bitcoin to a lot of alt coins on the technical side Bitcoin is lacking heavily. If the Protocol was updated to do something more like a lot of altcoins do I feel this is what would truly make the Bitcoin price sky rocket.

Like what does this even mean? ^^   what does it lack ? All the other alt coins are basically scams.

If that's the case then why do you have this in your signature?: BTCinstant.com - BUY GiftCards with AltCoins!

Lol so much irony.

Because someone paid him. You could pay me to use altcoins. Otherwise, I'm not interested in any current altcoin as a serious alternative to bitcoin.

The only reason altcoins have any value > 0 is BECAUSE bitcoin came first.

If another altcoin were to have come before bitcoin then it would likely have value as well. I think the majority of the coins that have some level of value have value because of speculators.