Today we help you understand more about altcoins. You have probably heard the word more than one time, right? What is altcoins? Why should you care about them? Let´s explain them to you once in for all so you can move forward in your crypto journey more confident with your moves.
Cannot wait for the answer?
Ok, here is the short (and also correct) answer: “everything that is not a Bitcoin is altcoins”.
Continue reading to get more clearness in the subject!
What is altcoins? – Basic Understanding
Bitcoin is the main grandfather of all the cryptos, but you also got Ethereum, Litecoin, Ripple, Dash, Stellar, etc, etc, etc… Anything that is not Bitcoin you call an “altcoin”. There are many people who believe that bitcoin is the one and only cryptocurrency and all the others are scams. That is not correct, even though it is almost correct, as of the around 2,000 different (it’s coming more all the time) coins out there, around 90-95% are nothing more than Ponzi schemes and will be gone in the future, so will the money that people invest in the coins.
That’s the sad truth. There are 100,000s of people that are investing in this scams right now, with no idea of the scam they are actually inside of.
Don´t let that scare you off into thinking that the only Bitcoin is a good investment because then you will miss out on a lot of profitable coins out there. So why is there a “need” for other coins than Bitcoin? Well, simply because Bitcoin got some flaws, and other coins are being created all the time to solve those flaws.
For example, Ethereum, can create “smart contracts” and solve the problem, there is also a coin named Zcash that adds even another layer of privacy to the Bitcoin, so that is another example.
Am absolutely sure that more coins will be made, or more correct more “winning coins” that solve problems that Bitcoin isn´t already solving.
Cryptos is an evolution of money
Right now we are going through an evolution, not only when it comes to money but for pretty much every aspect of our daily lives. The evolution we are going through right now is a data-based evolution. I guess you can say it is just a natural step, back in the day in Egypt they had different metal coins, then we moved into paper money, then to credit cards, and now we are moving towards the most effective money this far, the crypto money.
2 Main Reasons why cryptos exist
During my years of studying what the experts on the topic say, it´s not a wild guess to say that cryptocurrencies exist for 2 MAIN reasons.
Nr 1:
To solve a problem that exists in the currency. Bitcoin, for example, is very slow when it comes to validating a transaction. It is not suitable for buying a coffee in a store (this is a legitimate problem of bitcoin). If someone worked on a solution for this and then implemented a new currency (if the solution works), then that currency might gain popularity and get used for transactions that require speed (buying a cup of coffee for example). Another problem is privacy, even if Bitcoin got great privacy there is still room for improvement. Many currencies have been developed to solve this problem.
In short, legitimate problems (in real life) and the lack of geographical borders is what creates new cryptos all the time.
Nr 2:
A cryptocurrency can have different functionalities. It´s just like classic money only it is mixed with apps. There is a crypto named filecoin for example, that creates peer-to-peer storage. What that means is: Let´s say you store your data in Google Drive (or dropbox) for example. That is not peer-to-peer, as your data is on a server that is owned by someone else than you, it is owned by Google. Once again here, there is potential for human errors here and you could lose your files. So a crypto like filecoin, for example, solves this problem
Conclusion
- Cryptos (data-driven currencies) are here to stay, no doubt about that, and it´s only going to get bigger and bigger in the coming months and years ahead.
- Around 95% of cryptocurrencies are scams. Why? Well, because in any “boom” criminals are also made. It was the same back in 1999 with internet stocks. With hedge funds in the 2000s, same with mortgage-backed securities in 2008 and now we are going to see A LOT of scammers in the crypto space (they are already everywhere) within the next couple of years or so… However, the industry itself will boom and if you just can avoid all of the scams you will be just fine.
In short, we NEED new cryptos (except the scams), new coins and/or updates in bitcoin are attempting to solve the above problems. There is NOT “one single coin” solution. Many solutions may exist, and that is also the main reason why we (most likely) will see more than one winner in this current crypto evolution we are currently going through, and according to all experts, we are still only in the beginning…
Ok, where do I go from here?
You are a smart person and I am sure that you are aware of the many scams out there in the crypto space and that you can avoid them if you just know what to look out for. If you want to expand your knowledge fast and get an advantage and put yourself in a good position of making serious bank on this boom then you might need some help and support from likeminded.
A great community that I am part of myself is the Crypto Alliance, it got step-by-step training on pretty much all aspects of crypto and it teaches you different ways on how you can earn money, even passively from the industry.
Click here to read more about the Alliance!
I hope you found this short article on what altcoins is to be helpful and you should now have a better understanding of the subject. Please leave your questions and/or comments in the comment section below and I will be more than happy to answer them!
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I wish you success!
John
Founder of: King Cryptos
Thanks for a great read – although I had some knowledge of crypto-currencies before reading this, I have to admit it was limited!
Your clear, concise article really gave a full insight into what they are and how they work. I have a few friends who have done well out of crypto-currencies but these are the people who have already got out the schemes. I feel like the best times have already passed. It will be interesting to see what happens to crypto-currencies going forwards!