The Insignificance of Altcoins? Potential? Mass adoption? Really?

[nakaone]

there are two economically accepted theories of value regarding cryptocurrencies. they both do not rely on technical development etc pp but on network effects. 

the more classical theory, imo the more sound one is that the greater network eats the smaller network and bitcoins role will even be more dominant in the future than it is now.

the second theory is that with this very easy to build decentralized networks, people can give value to things which they see valueable and we probably have a few hundred small but legitimate coins in the future - maybe one example for this is dogecoin.

I tend to believe that the first theory makes more sense because the utility of the network grows with the number of users - but what do I know about the future.

If you look closer you can see one existent niche which will probably not be filled by bitcoin. bitcoin is a decentralized transparent ledger, the maybe second biggest network will be a decentralized private ledger

[HCLivess]

Altcoins are the best IT field of today.

[insidertradingeverywhere]

yes, there will be these coins of massadoption, but it won't be the super innovative ones everyone hopes.

[Chase]

yes, there will be these coins of massadoption, but it won't be the super innovative ones everyone hopes.

I agree with you that technology will have little to do with it.  I know what I believe will lead to mass appeal, but I'm curious as to what you think a particular coin needs to do to win the race to mass adoption?

[kelsey]

Litecoin has a good chance.

Man I love your sarcasm  

has better chance then even bitcoin, core users here might hero worship btc creator, but the whole anon dev thing doesn't wash with joe public.

[Brilliantrocket]

Depends on what you mean by mass adoption. I seriously doubt that any currently existing altcoin will get anywhere close to the number of users that Paypal has. There will be niche markets for certain things like anonymity, but not for general purpose transactions. There's simply no reason for the average individual to switch over from a centralized payment system.

[kelsey]

There's simply no reason for the average individual to switch over from a centralized payment system.

I think there is a big need for an instant, no fee, transfer to anyone at anytime p2p payment system, just none exists in any meaningful way yet.

[e-coinomist]

only thing I could think of would be eg. Ethereum or so used by 100M people all over the world maximum and thats about it in my view.  I don't really know, I'm a realist, not really crypto ideologist-optimist kinda guy as lotta folks here seem to be. I think Cryptocurrency--even Bitcoin--is not very significant in our world today.

Looks like a scam now.

[K210]

It's important to point out that just a couple of years ago bitcoin was nothing, no one used it, it was bug riddled, worth less than a dollar. But over time things improved and look where bitcoin is now. Whats not to say that at some point in the future a couple of the better alts will follow a similar path?

[insidertradingeverywhere]

yes, there will be these coins of massadoption, but it won't be the super innovative ones everyone hopes.

I agree with you that technology will have little to do with it.  I know what I believe will lead to mass appeal, but I'm curious as to what you think a particular coin needs to do to win the race to mass adoption?

to come to massadoption it needs to appeal to the masses. Simplicity is a great part of that. Look at doge as good first example.

For massadoption the coin needs to:
-be simple
-be fun (not all of them - there is room for others too)
-be secure and reliable
-be fair
-be easy to handle
-not hardfork often

the coin that can be handled by the most stupid person with not much risks is the one that wins the race. Innovation, algorythms aswell as anonfeatures is extremely overrated

[Brilliantrocket]

There's simply no reason for the average individual to switch over from a centralized payment system.

I think there is a big need for an instant, no fee, transfer to anyone at anytime p2p payment system, just none exists in any meaningful way yet.

Agreed.

[Este Nuno]

There's simply no reason for the average individual to switch over from a centralized payment system.

I think there is a big need for an instant, no fee, transfer to anyone at anytime p2p payment system, just none exists in any meaningful way yet.

Agreed.

Maybe on an international scale, but a lot of countries have interbank domestic transfers already instant and free.

It actually really makes Bitcoin look worse in a country where you can just send money to your friends that way.

Bitcoin would have been better had it come out a few years before it did. Probably would have had a much better chance of being mainstream by now.

[speedy1987]

There are only two "coins" for me.

Bitcoin is the first one and altcoin is the second one.

Bitcoin is like the engine of crypto. And alts are like the gas.
(they will be always together.....in the future they maybe change their names, but the position is going stay)

[ReserviorHunt]

It all depends on the approach the developer is taking to tackle the issue. I personally think NOXT with its public developer is going to be making inroads in a proper direction in that regard.

ANN here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=841741.0;all

[Zer0Sum]

Depends on what you mean by mass adoption. I seriously doubt that any currently existing altcoin will get anywhere close to the number of users that Paypal has. There will be niche markets for certain things like anonymity, but not for general purpose transactions. There's simply no reason for the average individual to switch over from a centralized payment system.

Bitcoin is already "mass adopted" by techno-geeks, teens, etc...
And 100% of the 100s of Tier 2/Third World money transmitters.

https://www.egopay.com/exchange

BTC, LTC are universal.

The target market is saturated with this klunky 2009 technology (5 years = 100 years in internet time).

Anyone with credit cards and PayPal and a middle class lifestyle...
Has absolutely no use for all the hassles and bullshit that comes with Bitcoin.

When your accountant is talking about Bitcoin to prove he's hip...
All the actual hipsters are looooong gone.

The only game in town is now whether a full-blown "financial system" like NXT can gain traction...
By providing actual value as opposed the current pure speculation.

My guess is that only platforms that provide Tor grade anon or better...
Will survive the coming massive FinCEN crackdown on anon actors peddling unregistered securities.

[Mountain Jew]

There are only two "coins" for me.

Bitcoin is the first one and altcoin is the second one.

Bitcoin is like the engine of crypto. And alts are like the gas.
(they will be always together.....in the future they maybe change their names, but the position is going stay)

But which altcoin? Altcoins are just the natural byproduct of something like bitcoin as it can be easily replicated and tweaked and people look to capitalize on it, though without innovation they're largely useless.

[arieq]

There's simply no reason for the average individual to switch over from a centralized payment system.

I think there is a big need for an instant, no fee, transfer to anyone at anytime p2p payment system, just none exists in any meaningful way yet.

Agreed.

Maybe on an international scale, but a lot of countries have interbank domestic transfers already instant and free.

It actually really makes Bitcoin look worse in a country where you can just send money to your friends that way.

Bitcoin would have been better had it come out a few years before it did. Probably would have had a much better chance of being mainstream by now.

crypto is too complicated for most people, it will never reach mainstream. BTC and all alt coins are a fad where we are making money short term

[swansong]

i think Litecoin has a chance along with bitcoin.

[sniveling]

i think Litecoin has a chance along with bitcoin.

It's heavily fallen in price this year. I'm wondering if it will continue falling next year.

[NeuroticFish]

Most altcoins were not even existing one year ago, so comparing them with BTC makes no real sense.
Some altcoins do have a big community - for example Dogecoin, which also did great steps for awareness and adoption - some are focused mainly on adding new features, gambling that features may make people need that coin.

This year was an explosion of new coins. Even somebody really interested in the altcoin scene can't keep up to really get involved in all of them, or at least all the promising ones.

Some do have potential, but it's hard to say now which ones will actually survive for 1-2 more years. And only then we can talk about big things, like adoption.