Ya know what i was thinking today? of course you don't thats why I'm about to tell you.
I've been hearing a lot of criticism of bitcoin lately from the potential for altcoins to erode the trust in the concept of digital scarcity. Most notably the interview with adam back on lets talk bitcoin. By building decentralized exchange into the bottom protocol layer I think nxt can potentially restore this trust. Think about it, no other copy of nxt will ever have markets with as much market depth as nxt. Meaning their copy nxt will never has as much utility. Thus a copy of nxt is not "just as good as nxt". Since no copy of nxt will ever be "just as good as nxt" nxt can be thought of as scarce in a way that bitcoin can not.
I think this could be added to our list of "core arguments" in favor of nxt.
Couldn't some other crypto also implement a decentralized exchange into its protocol and compete to gain market depth based on that + some extra advantage that they claim to have?
Yea they could in theory. But it wouldn't be like just making a doge and having something thats more or less functionally equivalent to bitcoin. It would have to find some way to build that utility. In a situation where nxt had first mover advantage there wouldnt be any incentive for traders to want to operate in that alternative market when it had low depth, thus it would be difficult for it to ever achieve great depth. Not imposable but difficult. And if this altcoin did manage to pass nxt and become the main trading platform than the same argument would then apply to that coin. Meaning either way the faith in digital scarcity is restored. It doesnt need to be imposable to expand the money supply, only difficult. like gold its not imposable to get more of it, just hard.
This is article-worthy.

Yea i think it may be also. I'll have to think really hard for a while about whether its wrong or not.
Whatever the case, statements like "Please stop making altcoins because they devalue Bitcoin" can only be seen as a greater incentive to create an altcoin. Whichever cryptos end up succeeding need to have so much network effect in their favor that simple clones wouldn't threaten them, and I think accessibility/useability features that can't be cloned (because they depend on a large userbase to be useful, not just simple speculation on value) are a key part of this.
I think the real worry for Bitcoin holders is the new wave of truly second generation cryptos like Nxt, because they actually do provide strong reasons for Bitcoin to be devalued. And the solution is simple: buy Nxt!
However, if your argument is true, then the future of cryptocurrencies/platforms will not be threatened by Bitcoin's demise. Just because the Ford Model-T is no longer competitive doesn't mean we should all give up on driving cars.