Bitcoin is definitely standing on the shoulders of giants, but AFAIK none of the other pre-Bitcoin cryptocurrencies ever got implemented? With the only exception being a handful of centralized services like Liberty Reserve, though those would hardly count as cryptocurrency by today's definition.
There was a period a long time ago when I gladly accepted Liberty Reserve dollars over bitcoin and other payment services. That time is now gone. 
Luckily I cashed out all my LR a year before it got seized ad taken down by the government.From ideas to works, practice, Satoshi Nakamoto did many great things for us. His disappearance is a great gift for us too as if he is known, and get arrested by government similarly to TON CEO Pavel Durov, who knows what will happen with Bitcoin.
It's incredible that no one ever found out who satoshi was or who they were. At least, there is no one to confirm whether any of the usual suspects is satoshi. Something tells me that he is dead and hasn't been with us for a long time.