There are many reasons why we have thousands of altcoins existing as of today and still counting, that is because they are created to compete with the service provided by a well known altcoins, claiming to have faster transactions, partnerships, used to scam an investors, etc. All cryptocurrencies next to bitcoin are called altcoins and they have different purposes. We need them to get more bitcoin in a faster way by means of trading or holding. Some altcoins also offer better service than bitcoin.