Quote from: acoindr on May 24, 2013, 12:24:39 AM

Quote from: justusranvier on May 23, 2013, 11:46:11 PM

I'll believe that competing cryptocurrencies are viable in the long term once somebody convinces me that average people would prefer to work with multiple competing Internets on a daily basis instead of one Internet that has everything.

That's similar to Erik's one email protocol example, which as I said isn't the same applicably.

The truth is markets do prefer choice -- coke, pepsi, chevy, toyota. I actually think things will wind up being pegged to gold. That fits with Erik's one dominant currency belief, which I actually do agree with, but people will hold a portfolio of currencies just as more savvy money managers (read as the rich) hold money in different forms.

Money is complex. Gold is the most widely valued thing among the largest number of people. However, it's not transacted as money often, and can't achieve good network effect, because it's not convenient to transact. So things, like fiat currency, compete with gold and are used far more dominantly. That doesn't mean gold has lost all its monetary value, though.

I think we will see prices listed relative to gold, e.g. .0001 oz, for something, but merchants will accept a variety of things to equal that value, cryptocurrencies topping the list. Just as you can go to many sites and buy services with dollars or Liberty Reserve and increasingly bitcoins, all relative to USD, in the future we will see similar payment options but relative to gold. People will store the majority of their wealth in gold, but also hold a portfolio of whichever cryptocurrencies work for their situation. There may even be fund managers offering professional services.

So you do have access to everything, because it's so easy to trade for anything you need at any time. That's what you both seem to miss. As I point out richer people already hold and trade portfolios of different currencies. They don't have it backwards. Technology is simply expanding that access to a larger group of people.

Those fall more on the commodity side of the spectrum in my opinion, along with being CONSUMABLE GOODS. People want different flavors because there's no difficulty when switching between them, but do people want to use multiple alt/crypto currencies? I doubt it, it's an inconvenience and we all know how humans dislike changes and things that bring inconvenience. Just like there is one fiat currency for most nations, there will be one dominate crypto currency IMO. Now that's not to say that a few alternative currencies may find a niche in a specific market somewhere, but they just won't be used by the masses.