Quote from: toknormal on October 03, 2014, 08:15:40 AM

Quote from: gogxmagog on October 02, 2014, 11:38:15 PM

He is very careful to mention that he doesn't think BTC will be the one. More and more I get the feeling that btc is the experiment. They will watch it and learn as it fails, then make a crypto that fixes everything that is wrong and copies everything that works, put their billions into marketing and infrastructure (or hop on btc's existing infrastructure) and go from there. Like he says - most don't care about anonymity, they want security and convenience.

Not good news for btc imo

Actually, bollocks. Neither you nor Bill Gates have a clue what your talking about.

For a start, Bitcoin is not a centralised money issuer, so who is "they" in the phrase "They will watch it and learn as it fails" ? There is no "they" other than the flotilla of alt coins that has emerged and consistently failed to get anywhere near Bitcoin's market cap. Not a single one of them has made the merest dent - apart from maybe Litecoin which for a few weeks managed to reach a paultry 5-10% before falling back into oblivion.

Secondly - hashrate. The bitcoin network hashing power is now measured in "Peta" hashes. That is a phenomenal amount of network power that dwarfs everything else into insignificance. That kind of network power doesn't appear overnight. JP Morgan, Goldman, Microsoft, the NSA could spend as much money as they like and never get near that hashrate and level of redundancy. What that means for holders is **security**.

Thirdly - network effect. It takes years for the kind of infrastructure that Bitcoin has (and is evolving) to be built up. Just looks at the latest Circle offering for example. For an enterprise like that to get off the ground takes years of evolution. No VC is going to go near a digital currency that hasn't proven itself. Bitcoin has been Hacked, Goxed, "China"d, "Malliability"'d and generally kicked to death in the press and emerged from all of that without a scratch. You can't spend your way into that kind of confidence. After 6 years it's now having a ton of investment ploughed into it and we've yet to see the half of that start to bear fruit.

Fourthly - institutions. It takes 1-2 years for an ETF to make its way through the regulators red tape. Towards the end of this year we're going to start to see the first major vehicle for institutional investment in Bitcoin. That will be a game changer and probably the final nail in the coffin for any potential contenders.

Make no mistake, alternatives had their chance and didn't even get near - Bitcoin is simply too far down the line already for any turning back. Whatever technology enhancements are needed from now on will be applied to Bitcoin itself rather than starting from scratch.

good post

imo bitcoin will always be number 1 , but do feel there is room for some of the other early alts too

not everyone wants the full corporate bodywrapping that bitcoin is having applied