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> Bitcoin is well-established and valued by many. That can't be said for any of these other schemes. That's true right now and is what I said: currently Bitcoi

by vladd 15y ago

> Bitcoin is well-established and valued by many. That can't be said for any of these other schemes. That's true right now and is what I said: currently Bitcoin has a rather good marketing power over the masses, and alternatives failed to appear yet. However, once other systems start to emerge and people realize there's no value in such coins except their advertisement, there will be no moat to protect Bitcoin from its competitors.

jerguismi 15y ago
But the question is, will cryptocurrency usage diminish or grow via alternative block-chains? If it will grow, people will choose the best suitable cryptocurrency for their use. This is ruled by infrastructure (exchanges, software, marketplaces). I don't see how alternative blockchains would be bad for bitcoins or cryptocurrency in general. The more alternatives, the better. If someone invents technically better cryptocurrency than bitcoin, I will be glad to switch to it. However, looking at all the current infrastructure around bitcoin (exchanges, mobile clients, libraries, marketplaces, web shops) I don't see why people would switch to these (only slightly) better cryptocurrencies currently. However, it's really easy to switch from a cryptocurrency to another (eg. use the same JSON API, anybody can set up an exchange easily), so we might see some rapid adoption when a better alternative emerges.
- caf 15y ago
  ...so we might see some rapid adoption when a better alternative emerges. Isn't that a problem for anyone holding a significant quantity of the previous incumbent?