The only reason Bitcoin is more valuable then other altcoins

[Jacobit]

Most all of the alt coins are junk copies with added crap. 

[r3wt]

I think the majority of the coins that have some level of value have value because of speculators.

This.

[Vortex20000]

I only choose bitcoin because:

1) It's more widely known.
2) It's more widely accepted.
3) IMHO all other altcoins are copiers.

[foggyb]

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.

No altcoin could come before bitcoin, except in some alternate universe where logic does not exist.

[LiteCoinGuy]

I only choose bitcoin because:

1) It's more widely known.
2) It's more widely accepted.
3) IMHO all other altcoins are copiers.

I only choose bitcoin because:

1) It's not a scam
2) It's not maleware
3) It has everything it needs to be money
4)...
543)...

[johnyj]

The infrastructure for bitcoin is magnitudes more solid than alt-coins. I had several alt-coins but those communities are full of scams and speculators, no one cares about the development of alt-coin, just pump and dump

[RodeoX]

Most of the alts I have seen are a product of find & replace coding of Satoshi's code. It's like finger painting a corvette and saying "look at this awesome car I invented!!"

[Cubic Earth]

I only choose bitcoin because:

1) It's not a scam
2) It's not maleware
3) It has everything it needs to be money
4)...
543)...

No LiteCoins?

[iluvpie60]

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.

Bitcoin was a first mover yes. So was Microsoft and it became a huge thing and is still there. So guess what man? It is probably going to always be there. Think of bitcoin like that. As long as microsoft is managed properly it is going to be at the top in its respective industry for a long time.

so will bitcoin

[jjc326]

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.

I agree, and first mover advantage does mean a lot though.  You suggest Bitcoin changes to make it better, but I THINK part of the things people like about Bitcoin is that you can't really mess with it, or change it, without getting most people on board.

[kutaka]

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

Can't agree more.

I already got into bitcoin, which is risky enough. I do not have time nor money to care for hundreds of altcoins. Especially, when most of them a pumps'n'dumps.

I have never owned any altcoin. Few time I considered buying some, but I didn't. And lucky me that I didn't.

Also, currently I use bitcoin as store of value and method of payment. What altcoins bring to the table here?

[DooMAD]

I see a lot of absolutes in this thread, but people would do well to remember that nothing is set in stone.  No one knows with any certainty what the future holds.  The "it's good enough" comparisons drawn between Bitcoin and IPv4 may turn out to be right.  It's certainly possible that Bitcoin does everything we need it to already and the slowing development won't turn out to be a problem.  But it might not.  As Bitcoin itself has proven time and time again, anything can happen.  I can't in all honesty foresee a situation where Bitcoin won't be around, but it's not guaranteed to hold the top spot forever.  We'll have to wait and see how things progress over the coming years.

While it's true to say that -most- alts are probably just pump and dumps, it doesn't mean they all are.  Why not experiment with new features?  Why not test new ideas?  Amid all the noise and hype, some people are working diligently behind the scenes and coming up with some clever stuff.  Altcoins aren't hurting you unless you're worried about them diluting the fiat value of your bitcoins or you bought one that got dumped, so it's disingenuous to tar all coins with the same brush.

[Fray]

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.

I agree, and first mover advantage does mean a lot though.  You suggest Bitcoin changes to make it better, but I THINK part of the things people like about Bitcoin is that you can't really mess with it, or change it, without getting most people on board.

I think this is a big part of it, however it is also really the best designed crypto out there. It is much better then other coins in terms of likely percentage of blocks orphaned, potential attacks on the network, ect.

It also has a huge advantage of the fact that it's network is the most secure.

[neordicICE]

Network effect - Bitcoin is best because most use it. Here come the value, and it will be very hard to change Bitcoin #1 position in near future.

[NapoleonBonaparte]

Value is derived from the demand of the users.

Having better infrastructure and network/wallet security in place is probably one good reason it has value.

[tspacepilot]

And that was all made possible because bitcoin had first mover advantage, use your head man.

It's called innovation and sooner or later an altcoin is going to make it big on innovation because bitcoin is to scared to. Some altcoins have already seen very good success, Bitcoin could increase it's worth past the point that it's already at if it just accepted this.

after 3 years of litecoin and 2 years of lots of altcoins, all i see is pump and dump coins that last 3-6 months, and a bunch of dice games.

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

I think he is turning an insightful eye towards the fact that most of these "innovations" are mere headlines designed to attract the attention of the easy marks.  It really is like san franscisco in 1849.  There were a few dudes who hit gold and made good money in 1848.  By the time 1849 rolled around, the scene was full of vultures and speculators and theives and the only ones making money were the ones selling picks and shovels.

You can call this the "first mover" advantage if you want.  But none of these altcoins have a large enough community to matter.  In fact, if you say btc is slow to innovate the protocol consider the fact that the bitcoin community is large enough that any changes have to be resonably consider and carefully considered because there is a lot of work that has been done and no one wants to screw that up because of an ill-thought out idea which seemed like an "improvement" untill it was realized that it wasn't one all too late.

[r3wt]

And that was all made possible because bitcoin had first mover advantage, use your head man.

It's called innovation and sooner or later an altcoin is going to make it big on innovation because bitcoin is to scared to. Some altcoins have already seen very good success, Bitcoin could increase it's worth past the point that it's already at if it just accepted this.

after 3 years of litecoin and 2 years of lots of altcoins, all i see is pump and dump coins that last 3-6 months, and a bunch of dice games.

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

I think he is turning an insightful eye towards the fact that most of these "innovations" are mere headlines designed to attract the attention of the easy marks.  It really is like san franscisco in 1849.  There were a few dudes who hit gold and made good money in 1848.  By the time 1849 rolled around, the scene was full of vultures and speculators and theives and the only ones making money were the ones selling picks and shovels.

You can call this the "first mover" advantage if you want.  But none of these altcoins have a large enough community to matter.  In fact, if you say btc is slow to innovate the protocol consider the fact that the bitcoin community is large enough that any changes have to be resonably consider and carefully considered because there is a lot of work that has been done and no one wants to screw that up because of an ill-thought out idea which seemed like an "improvement" untill it was realized that it wasn't one all too late.

/thread

[jbreher]

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.

Skyrocket? It is to laugh.

You explain to me how the piddly <5% additional cap that would come from each and every alt coin liquidating and going into bitcoin would cause more than a whimper in bitcoin cap! and I'll pay attention. Otherwise, you're just pissing in the wind.

[tspacepilot]

And that was all made possible because bitcoin had first mover advantage, use your head man.

It's called innovation and sooner or later an altcoin is going to make it big on innovation because bitcoin is to scared to. Some altcoins have already seen very good success, Bitcoin could increase it's worth past the point that it's already at if it just accepted this.

after 3 years of litecoin and 2 years of lots of altcoins, all i see is pump and dump coins that last 3-6 months, and a bunch of dice games.

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

I think he is turning an insightful eye towards the fact that most of these "innovations" are mere headlines designed to attract the attention of the easy marks.  It really is like san franscisco in 1849.  There were a few dudes who hit gold and made good money in 1848.  By the time 1849 rolled around, the scene was full of vultures and speculators and theives and the only ones making money were the ones selling picks and shovels.

You can call this the "first mover" advantage if you want.  But none of these altcoins have a large enough community to matter.  In fact, if you say btc is slow to innovate the protocol consider the fact that the bitcoin community is large enough that any changes have to be resonably consider and carefully considered because there is a lot of work that has been done and no one wants to screw that up because of an ill-thought out idea which seemed like an "improvement" untill it was realized that it wasn't one all too late.

/thread

What does it mean when you say "/thread"?  It reminds of LaTeX, but with wrong slash.

[robyone]

IMHO main reason for the high value is MtGox "losing" loads of coins.
basically demand is higher than supply, if there were more coins in circulation, then supply would be higher compared to what it is now, hence the lower price.