3 ms·

>>Aren't ICOs more of an altcoin phenomenon? ICOs are an Ethereum phenomenon. Ethereum isn't a fork of Bitcoin's codebase and thus isn't an altcoin.

kobeya 9y ago
It is an alternative coin. Hence "altcoin."
- atomical 9y ago
  I think of blockchain currency as coins and currency issued by a blockchain as tokens (i.e. ERC20).
  - tylersmith 9y ago
    There's no fundamental difference. Currently there are implementation differences but those will go away. Eventually Ether will be ERC20 compliant.
    - AgentME 9y ago
      >Eventually Ether will be ERC20 compliant. Citation? Ether is privileged on Ethereum. It's what mining gets you, it's what transaction fees are paid in, if proof-of-stake comes around, it will be what's staked, and any transaction can include some. I don't expect any of these to change.
      - cslarson 9y ago
        I think the reference is EIP 101: Crypto Abstraction which is planned for the Serenity release. https://github.com/ethereum/EIPs/issues/28 https://github.com/ethereum/EIPs/issues/28
        AgentME 9y ago
        Thanks, that's interesting. I take back some of my incredulity from my previous post!
- decentralised 9y ago
  No because it is based on a different generation of the blockchain design. The same way that iOS is not an alt-blackberry.
fastball 9y ago
Altcoin hasn't referred to Bitcoin forks in years.
- CryptoPunk 9y ago
  I've seen the term fall out of usage. Years ago, when Bitcoin made up 90% of the cryptocurrency market cap, and nearly every other cryptocurrency was a fork of Bitcoin, with a name that was some variation of *coin (e.g. Litecoin, Peercoin, Dogecoin, Novacoin, BBQcoin) it made sense. Not so much now anymore, with Bitcoin's market cap under 50%, and original projects being its major competitors.
  - lawless123 9y ago
    Market cap is a poor way to measure each coin. You can create your own coin premine 1 million of them. Sell a few for ~5 dollars and claim it has a market cap of 5 million dollars.
    - CryptoPunk 9y ago
      Market cap can be a totally valid way to measure total worth. In the case of a cryptocurrency with a large circulating and trading volume, like Ether, it's a reliable measure of total value.

kobeya 9y ago

It is an alternative coin. Hence "altcoin."

atomical 9y ago
I think of blockchain currency as coins and currency issued by a blockchain as tokens (i.e. ERC20).
- tylersmith 9y ago
  There's no fundamental difference. Currently there are implementation differences but those will go away. Eventually Ether will be ERC20 compliant.
  - AgentME 9y ago
    >Eventually Ether will be ERC20 compliant. Citation? Ether is privileged on Ethereum. It's what mining gets you, it's what transaction fees are paid in, if proof-of-stake comes around, it will be what's staked, and any transaction can include some. I don't expect any of these to change.
    - cslarson 9y ago
      I think the reference is EIP 101: Crypto Abstraction which is planned for the Serenity release. https://github.com/ethereum/EIPs/issues/28 https://github.com/ethereum/EIPs/issues/28
      - AgentME 9y ago
        Thanks, that's interesting. I take back some of my incredulity from my previous post!
decentralised 9y ago
No because it is based on a different generation of the blockchain design. The same way that iOS is not an alt-blackberry.

fastball 9y ago

Altcoin hasn't referred to Bitcoin forks in years.

CryptoPunk 9y ago
I've seen the term fall out of usage. Years ago, when Bitcoin made up 90% of the cryptocurrency market cap, and nearly every other cryptocurrency was a fork of Bitcoin, with a name that was some variation of *coin (e.g. Litecoin, Peercoin, Dogecoin, Novacoin, BBQcoin) it made sense. Not so much now anymore, with Bitcoin's market cap under 50%, and original projects being its major competitors.
- lawless123 9y ago
  Market cap is a poor way to measure each coin. You can create your own coin premine 1 million of them. Sell a few for ~5 dollars and claim it has a market cap of 5 million dollars.
  - CryptoPunk 9y ago
    Market cap can be a totally valid way to measure total worth. In the case of a cryptocurrency with a large circulating and trading volume, like Ether, it's a reliable measure of total value.