What makes Bitcoin new from Other coins

[Alpha Marine]

And that will be its downfall. The entire market is evolving and Bitcoin is not.

Let's be for real, please. What is the evolution that other coins have evolved that has made them better than bitcoin? Is there any coin that is even close to bitcoin aside from Monero? Does bitcoin look like a coin that is having a decline or it looks like a coin that has not even reached its peak? About 60% of the entire industry is made up of bitcoin and this is insane considering that there are thousands of coins out there. Are you talking about the kind of evolution that is going on with Solana coin where there are so many memecoin in its network or Ethearum that shitcons have ruined? How have the progress of these coins? Or BNB that's a centralised coin?
These are the biggest altcoins currently and none of them is even close to bitcoin in anything.
Bitcoin might have a downfall, but lack of evolution is not one of them.

[fikrett]

That's right, most investors in recent years are only interested in the profits that bitcoin can bring them, not many people care about its decentralization anymore. We can see this more clearly with the large amount of money pouring into bitcoin these days but mainly through ETFs. But there is no denying that before bitcoin became popular and recognized by governments, what made bitcoin great was its decentralized nature. If bitcoin were not decentralized, the demand for it would not exist and it would not have achieved the recognition and status it has today.

It can be said that the decentralization of bitcoin is not the focus of investors today, but it is the factor that helps bitcoin achieve the position it has today.

We can also say that, in fact, no coin, even with the same motive and structure (which is not profit-oriented), would be able to become the second BTC credibility and success wise..
Why? - The momentum is gone, and people don't believe in anything from the get-go the way it was back then (and rightfully so). And why would they, given the fact that BTC is already there?
I don't know what else to say there, other than to agree with the fact that.. BTC won't be toppled by anyone or anything during our lifetime, Period.

[legiteum]

When decades pass and you are proven right, I will return to this post and be grateful for your perspective.
But for now, I don't see it happening. Because coins nowadays are not created with what BTC was created in mind.

Bitcoin's original purpose was to provide a means of trade for people who could not safely use traditional means for fear of prosecution by their government. It was never meant to do anything else.

The demand for that product still exists, but it's no bigger than it was when Bitcoin started 15 years ago, and it's a tiny fraction of the current overall business. The reason new products aren't slow and expensive to transact like Bitcoin is because... nobody wants that.

And that will be its downfall. The entire market is evolving and Bitcoin is not.

Let's be for real, please. What is the evolution that other coins have evolved that has made them better than bitcoin? Is there any coin that is even close to bitcoin aside from Monero?

You are measuring Bitcoin's benefits in a way that 99% of people do not. Monero is made to evade the government: most people don't want to do that, or don't care.

When you remove the anti-government aspect of Bitcoin, all you are left with is a product that is slow and expensive.

Why? - The momentum is gone, and people don't believe in anything from the get-go the way it was back then (and rightfully so). And why would they, given the fact that BTC is already there?

Other digital currencies will eclipse Bitcoin's prominence because they will be more practical to use, and thus will be adopted more widely. In the future, we will pay for everything using digital currencies: but that will mean billions of transactions per day, and Bitcoin cannot do this. The currencies that can do this will become the ones every consumer will see.

In a sense it's how PCs took over IBM mainframes in the 1980s: IBM was "THE computer company", and when people thought computers, they only knew IBM. But PCs took over in the minds of average people because that's what they saw every day, and now most people probably haven't heard of IBM--but they've heard of Apple, Google, etc.

And unlike hardware, the value of a currency is based largely on how widely it is used. In 90% of consumers use, on a daily basis, some other digital currency to pay for their everyday things, then that will be the one they hold--just like most people hold USD or EUR today.

[sunsilk]

It's because it's the king of this market.

Tether printer goes...



You can't be serious for long term with Bitcoin, which is being backed by Tether which in turn is being backed by nothing.

Over&Out.

I recognize that Tether has something to do with Bitcoin's skyrocketing. I've remembered the 2017 bull run first when that was a big issue.

But if you're talking about not being serious about Bitcoin for the long term, I think we've got some receipts already that it's a good one played for the long term.

That's why it is the king of this market and let's just say that it's supported by Tether as well and the majority of the other alts in the market.

[d5000]

Bitcoin's original purpose was to provide a means of trade for people who could not safely use traditional means for fear of prosecution by their government. It was never meant to do anything else.

The demand for that product still exists, but it's no bigger than it was when Bitcoin started 15 years ago, and it's a tiny fraction of the current overall business. The reason new products aren't slow and expensive to transact like Bitcoin is because... nobody wants that.

There are a number of other use cases for a censorship-resistant decentralized currency, beginning with "the unbanked".

But even if you were correct with your assumption and "hiding from your government" was the primary use case, then the part I marked in bold is simply wrong. Authoritarianism is growing in the world. Russia and Venezuela are examples of coutries that went completely downhill when it comes to civic/human rights in the last 15 years (they were not perfect democracies in 2009 but the difference is abysmal). Bitcoin (and also Monero, which you dismiss as a currency for criminals) are extremely useful there. For example, people in Russia with anti-war stances can basically only support Ukrainian and Russian opposition movements with cryptocurrencies. The most secure and popular ones? Bitcoin, Litecoin, Monero.

And other countries are also in danger. India has become, in some areas, quite autocratic under the Modi government, even if it's still a democracy as a whole, and the same happens currently in some other countries like Bolivia. These countries, in a worst case scenario, could see a similar slide than Russia or Venezuela. Other examples are Myanmar and the Philippines.

And there is Trump in the US, even if the US is of course still far away from authoritarism, and also I believe that it won't slide down that much due to its strictly federal organization. But at least fears of authoritarism are also growing in democratic countries, so this is also a demand driver (take all those who think the fiat system is "rigged" and "only favours the elite").

The academic term is democratic backsliding, and there are a lot of studies about that, so it can be considered a confirmed phenomenon. And the more countries slide back, the more potential demand for censorship resistant cryptocurrencies, and again Bitcoin is the strongest one.

[legiteum]

Bitcoin's original purpose was to provide a means of trade for people who could not safely use traditional means for fear of prosecution by their government. It was never meant to do anything else.

The demand for that product still exists, but it's no bigger than it was when Bitcoin started 15 years ago, and it's a tiny fraction of the current overall business. The reason new products aren't slow and expensive to transact like Bitcoin is because... nobody wants that.

There are a number of other use cases for a censorship-resistant decentralized currency, beginning with "the unbanked".

But even if you were correct with your assumption and "hiding from your government" was the primary use case, then the part I marked in bold is simply wrong. Authoritarianism is growing in the world.

Oh give me a break. Do you really think the average buyer of Bitcoin today does so because they are worried their government is going to imminently turn totalitarian? Maybe a few thousand more individuals every year would harbor this concern, but that wouldn't even explain even 0.01% of Bitcoin's current market cap.

And I'm as concerned about the US sliding into a Putin-like regime with Trump at the top, but I also know that Bitcoin wouldn't help me in the least in that scenario since there would be so many other things to worry about.

[reagansimms]

With the attention given to Bitcoin lately much people are gradually buying into the idea of Bitcoin as it has really changed the narrative and This made me think and ask what is really different about Bitcoin that makes it different from other alternate coin?
Let have your view concerning what makes Bitcoin stand out from others?

"Scarcity" This is intentional because the supply limit ensures that Bitcoin remains a scarce asset. In theory, as demand increases and the supply is limited to 21 million coins (there is no additional supply after 21 million coins are mined), its value will increase.
"Unique" Satoshi goal in creating Bitcoin was to make it a decentralized (digital) currency and store of value, while other coins aim to improve certain aspects by utilizing blockchain technology.

This difference makes Bitcoin unique because it is more flexible compared to the various functions offered by other coins and Bitcoin is one of the most popular Cryptocurrencies that inspires the emergence of other coins.

[Alpha Marine]

Bitcoin's original purpose was to provide a means of trade for people who could not safely use traditional means for fear of prosecution by their government. It was never meant to do anything else.

The demand for that product still exists, but it's no bigger than it was when Bitcoin started 15 years ago, and it's a tiny fraction of the current overall business. The reason new products aren't slow and expensive to transact like Bitcoin is because... nobody wants that.

You saying the demand for bitcoin is not as much as it was 15 years ago is so false and so funny at the same time. You can clearly see that more people are interested in owning bitcoin now, and countries are becoming open to it. Countries where it was illegal to have are now making it legal to have and trade bitcoin, more countries are making it legal tender, and some are talking about having a bitcoin reserve. More people trust bitcoin today, people who thought bitcoin would be a failure 10 years ago are saying how wrong they were but here you are saying the demand is not as how it was 15 years ago. funny.

You are measuring Bitcoin's benefits in a way that 99% of people do not. Monero is made to evade the government: most people don't want to do that, or don't care.

When you remove the anti-government aspect of Bitcoin, all you are left with is a product that is slow and expensive.

So wrong again because the majority of the people buying bitcoin don't care about any anti-government whatsoever which is why they're still comfortable using exchanges.

Other digital currencies will eclipse Bitcoin's prominence because they will be more practical to use, and thus will be adopted more widely. In the future, we will pay for everything using digital currencies: but that will mean billions of transactions per day, and Bitcoin cannot do this. The currencies that can do this will become the ones every consumer will see.

Why don't you at least check for facts before you say things?
Currently, an average of $85 billion in bitcoin is traded a day, how are you saying bitcoin cannot match that?
When you mean digital currency I hope you're not talking about altcoins. Because there's no way the government will allow currency that is not theirs to replace their own.

[Shishir99]

Bitcoin is not something new, but it's unique. You can ask what makes it different from others. I would say it has become popular because it's open source, has limited supply, and is more secure. No matter what happens, the developers won't be able to change its maximum supply limit. So, due to its nature, the scarcity will increase over time and each token will become more valuable.

Bitcoin is kind of old, dominating the market right now. It was the first coin that became successful and people have faith in it. There are more coins like Bitcoin, or better than Bitcoin in terms of use flexibility. But, Bitcoin is the most popular which makes it number one in crypto world.

[fikrett]

Bitcoin is not something new, but it's unique. You can ask what makes it different from others. I would say it has become popular because it's open source, has limited supply, and is more secure. No matter what happens, the developers won't be able to change its maximum supply limit. So, due to its nature, the scarcity will increase over time and each token will become more valuable.

Bitcoin is kind of old, dominating the market right now. It was the first coin that became successful and people have faith in it. There are more coins like Bitcoin, or better than Bitcoin in terms of use flexibility. But, Bitcoin is the most popular which makes it number one in crypto world.

Yeah, due to it being the first.
That is, it will stay that way, in my opinion - because even if the coin would have something to offer (other than what BTC can do) - it would need to sway everybody for such a cause.
I don't think any coin would repeat the path that BTC did, and it's alright.

[Webetcoins]

I think you mean to say if what makes it different from the other or what makes it unique. Well, that would be it's limited supply. Even though it is still million but that is only 21, while others have a hundred or more. Then obviously its decentralization is intense.

I won't say it is 'fully decentralized' as we know that regulations are now left and right and then there are now lots of centralized services around but I'm sure that before, BTC is like that. Another one, is that BTC mainly has one chain, I mean it doesn't have the ability to create mini apps or so-called as smart contracts that are typically found on other altcoins. I know there are some things like NFT now for BTC but I think it is not full and might still need some tools in order for one to operate it. If BTC price don't grow up like this and then influential people not supporting it, the narrative on other people won't change. So thanks to these factors.

Not only in Bitcoin but other older coins are now getting an attention again. This is great, that people have drop their support on the newer and shittier coin for once. That is also the other narrative that have changed all through the years in crypto but good thing that BTC still maintained its position.

[john_egbert]

I think you mean to say if what makes it different from the other or what makes it unique. Well, that would be it's limited supply. Even though it is still million but that is only 21, while others have a hundred or more. Then obviously its decentralization is intense.

I won't say it is 'fully decentralized' as we know that regulations are now left and right and then there are now lots of centralized services around but I'm sure that before, BTC is like that. Another one, is that BTC mainly has one chain, I mean it doesn't have the ability to create mini apps or so-called as smart contracts that are typically found on other altcoins. I know there are some things like NFT now for BTC but I think it is not full and might still need some tools in order for one to operate it. If BTC price don't grow up like this and then influential people not supporting it, the narrative on other people won't change. So thanks to these factors.

Not only in Bitcoin but other older coins are now getting an attention again. This is great, that people have drop their support on the newer and shittier coin for once. That is also the other narrative that have changed all through the years in crypto but good thing that BTC still maintained its position.

We can see Lightning Network or Stacks Network as an L2 of sorts (the other being a sidechain), which are the biggest ones as far as I know, so BTC - does - have L2's, however, of course - not so much as on ETH simply due it wasn't created for these additional frameworks and such.
But everybody wants to have one nowadays 

[legiteum]

Bitcoin's original purpose was to provide a means of trade for people who could not safely use traditional means for fear of prosecution by their government. It was never meant to do anything else.

The demand for that product still exists, but it's no bigger than it was when Bitcoin started 15 years ago, and it's a tiny fraction of the current overall business. The reason new products aren't slow and expensive to transact like Bitcoin is because... nobody wants that.

You saying the demand for bitcoin is not as much as it was 15 years ago is so false and so funny at the same time.

That's not what I said. I said that the demand for a product that helps you evade government detection is approximately the same as it was when Bitcoin was created for that purpose and uniquely fulfills.

Obviously there is a gigantic market for speculation instruments, of which Bitcoin is one--but here Bitcoin stands along side thousands or even millions of other products that do the exact same thing.

You are measuring Bitcoin's benefits in a way that 99% of people do not. Monero is made to evade the government: most people don't want to do that, or don't care.

When you remove the anti-government aspect of Bitcoin, all you are left with is a product that is slow and expensive.

So wrong again because the majority of the people buying bitcoin don't care about any anti-government whatsoever which is why they're still comfortable using exchanges.

That was exactly my point: almost all buyers of Bitcoin today do not use it to solve the problem it was originally intended to solve, they just use it as an investment. When you use Bitcoin this way, things like its decentralization is a meaningless feature--the only thing that is important is that it is more popular.

Other digital currencies will eclipse Bitcoin's prominence because they will be more practical to use, and thus will be adopted more widely. In the future, we will pay for everything using digital currencies: but that will mean billions of transactions per day, and Bitcoin cannot do this. The currencies that can do this will become the ones every consumer will see.

Why don't you at least check for facts before you say things?
Currently, an average of $85 billion in bitcoin is traded a day, how are you saying bitcoin cannot match that?

There are tens of billions of transactions on Earth every day, and Bitcoin handles approximately 500k of those, and it uses $40 billion in hardware to do so. There is simply no way Bitcoin will ever get anywhere close to handling the transaction needs of even a tiny portion of the world's needs.

When you mean digital currency I hope you're not talking about altcoins. Because there's no way the government will allow currency that is not theirs to replace their own.

I'm not sure what you mean here. There are many digital currencies that are not Bitcoin. None of them are illegal just like Bitcoin is not illegal in almost every country in the world--and no country is calling out non-Bitcoin digital currencies specifically.

[ndutndut]

With the attention given to Bitcoin lately much people are gradually buying into the idea of Bitcoin as it has really changed the narrative and This made me think and ask what is really different about Bitcoin that makes it different from other alternate coin?
Let have your view concerning what makes Bitcoin stand out from others?

Bitcoin can stand out because bitcoin is unique and Bitcoin is also an asset that will become scarce in the future. Because the total amount is limited and Bitcoin can only be mined is 21 million bitcoins, while many altcoins are not limited to the number of coins.

In addition, Bitcoin has a wider ecosystem and Bitcoin is supported by decentralized blockchain technology that can track transactions made on the network, this is different from Altcoin. In essence, Bitcoin stands out because Bitcoin is the first coin and has mature fundamentals so that it can survive until now and even for the future.

[legiteum]

With the attention given to Bitcoin lately much people are gradually buying into the idea of Bitcoin as it has really changed the narrative and This made me think and ask what is really different about Bitcoin that makes it different from other alternate coin?
Let have your view concerning what makes Bitcoin stand out from others?

Bitcoin can stand out because bitcoin is unique and Bitcoin is also an asset that will become scarce in the future. Because the total amount is limited and Bitcoin can only be mined is 21 million bitcoins, while many altcoins are not limited to the number of coins.

You just described every other digital currency that has ever existed, so this seems to be the very opposite of the word, "unique" .

[d5000]

Do you really think the average buyer of Bitcoin today does so because they are worried their government is going to imminently turn totalitarian? Maybe a few thousand more individuals every year would harbor this concern, but that wouldn't even explain even 0.01% of Bitcoin's current market cap.

In the local forums you can find a lot of people worrying perhaps not about the governemnt "imminently turning totalitarian", but about increasing surveillance and decreased liberties. And I've often heard Bitcoin as a solution. Even if the Democracy Index and similar measure for certain regions (parts of EU, for example) still are all-green, the fears are there, for example related to rumours cash could be banned.

This may not be the "average Bitcoin buyer", who very likely is more speculation oriented. But it's one of several demand drivers. And it's one I expect to grow, unfortunately. It seems to be also that relatively wealthy people tend to this use case, as they are far more worried about what to do with their money, i.e. how to invest it even in an adverse situation.

And I'm as concerned about the US sliding into a Putin-like regime with Trump at the top, but I also know that Bitcoin wouldn't help me in the least in that scenario since there would be so many other things to worry about.

If Trump really goes "full Putin-like" and you want to organize to fight against the regime and needing a fundraising option, then you might re-think your position.

[AprilioMP]

With the attention given to Bitcoin lately much people are gradually buying into the idea of Bitcoin as it has really changed the narrative and This made me think and ask what is really different about Bitcoin that makes it different from other alternate coin?
Let have your view concerning what makes Bitcoin stand out from others?

Bitcoin becomes a coin that makes other coins created. I feel you understand what I mean this so I can say that Bitcoin is not a new one and there is no altcoin that can equate all the advantages possessed by Bitcoin.
Regarding what makes Bitcoin different from other alternative currencies, in this forum discussion like this has been widely opened and if you try to enter keywords in the Google search section, there will be many articles that you can read.

[GeorgeJohn]

This question requires different answers base on personal understanding of anyone towards Bitcoin, I know quite well that bitcoin is father and mother of others, because the ideas of altcoins was initiated through the development of bitcoin and that is what gives rise to other coins, its obvious that without introduction of bitcoin digital currency will end up as gold people know before, so since satoshi introduction bitcoin that gives the ideas of tokens, altcoins started with tokens whereas bitcoin was established and named bitcoin from initial..secondly bitcoin makes altcoins to increase, ordinarily without bitcoin to increase altcoins will not increase, from my perspective.

[legiteum]

And I'm as concerned about the US sliding into a Putin-like regime with Trump at the top, but I also know that Bitcoin wouldn't help me in the least in that scenario since there would be so many other things to worry about.

If Trump really goes "full Putin-like" and you want to organize to fight against the regime and needing a fundraising option, then you might re-think your position.

The last thing you'd want to do if you had to wage war against the US military is use absolutely anything electronic. Even if you were able to hide your holdings of value, you would have to spend the money somewhere, and all of those places would be surveilled. The only way--the only way--to fight against a totalitarian regime in the US or anywhere is to vote--and if you can no longer vote, you're basically screwed.

And if the US military were ever actually threatened by a digital currency, they would simply take it over. For Bitcoin, for instance, this would be a trivial matter of ordering three different public companies to do whatever they wanted. No chance that miners are going to risk imprisonment or death by defying the US government--they will obey the orders and play along. And note that the picture I'm painting here, wherein the US goes into all-out way with Bitcoin, would absolutely mean that Bitcoin plunges in value as all institutional investors, all ETFs, all law-abiding investors, all drop their holdings. And all centralized brokers drop their support for Bitcoin, etc.

So even if the totalitarian apocalypse happened, the absolutely correct investment decision here is wait for Bitcoin to lose 98% of its value when the US cracks down on it, not buy it now at $100k  .


Seriously, this conversation is silly: almost all of Bitcoin's present-day market cap is based on their being a civilization in place that supports a lively financial market for speculative investment instruments. If people want to invest in the end of the world, they should stockpile bullets.

[Accardo]

Bitcoin becomes a coin that makes other coins created. I feel you understand what I mean this so I can say that Bitcoin is not a new one and there is no altcoin that can equate all the advantages possessed by Bitcoin.
Regarding what makes Bitcoin different from other alternative currencies, in this forum discussion like this has been widely opened and if you try to enter keywords in the Google search section, there will be many articles that you can read.

Additionally, Bitcoin affects the price of all other crypto, a sign that most of them came from the btc Blockchain. Which is the main use case of the coin. The tech hasn't failed ever since it was launched, it runs on its own. No board of trustees, no CEO, but it's still successful. Bitcoin does the most work in all the cryptocurrencies, that's why every other coin follows its movement.