Just one year ago the altcoin scene looked something dismal. Other than a dim-lit Dash, a tired Monero, and an eager but overpriced Ether, the scene was barren and bleak with the hope of any altcoin making any significant long term run at stable value being reserved for pump-and-dumps, pre-mines, and reporting errors.

The only exception to this of course is Litecoin which has predominately held value over $1 for the majority of its lifespan,

Yesterday Vs Today

Ether sparked allot of interest and the price rose well into the $20's only to stumble back down before getting torched with the mega-hack and further demolished by its premature hard-fork. Monero and Dash both sparked early interest synonymous of pre-mining and/or pump-and-dump scheming.

Here's what how digital currency performance has gone over the years with the big five altcoins and bitcoin.


All of the big five altcoins combined were only worth approximately $8 total. 

Fast forward to today and Bitcoin by far outperformed all digital currency increasing nearly $1000 in value while Litecoin showed the most stability valued at a high of $4.43 for 2017 compared to 2016's high of $4.29. 

Monero has over doubled in Ether has quadrupled going from near $15 to nearly $50 and Dash has outright exploded from $14 to over $100.

Last week many flocked to some of the alternatives amidst hard fork concerns only to realize that a hard fork of any effecting magnitude is a long way off and there's nothing to worry about currently. Bitcoin is is back up over $1000 after having dipped under 900 for a brief moment in time.

Subsequently the the top altcoins have drooped a bit.

Why Altcoins are Good for Bitcoin

You frequently here supporters of Ethereum bashing bitcoin, they are the loudest it seems, you here other altcoin supporters say derogatory things as well, and of course you hear a steady stream of negativity from the private distributed ledger community (Hyperledger, IBM, R3, etc...). However, most bitcoin holders hold altcoins as well so it's not as directed the other way.

Except for towards private ledgers, because those are dangerous in how they are being presented and not even close to as secure as bitcoin. It's an attempt to completely disassociate the blockchain from those internal networks. 

Altcoins are good for bitcoin and its supporters are well aware of this. They are predominately exchanged for bitcoin and whereas they can be spend in some markets and exchanged through services like Shapeshift, for the most part their on-ramp/off-ramp to financial services are through bitcoin, even Ether which has some support in this area.


Why Bitcoin is Good for Altchains

Secondly, at least in today's world, nothing comes close to the immutable blockchain underpinning bitcoin, so sidchains, altchains, altcoins, and other tokens and assets can settle or record an absolute on the blockchain. Imagine Ethereum recording on the blockchain as a sidechain and there you have it. The blockchain brings functionality to sidechains they would otherwise not have

Thus, not only are altcoins good for bitcoin, bitcoin is good for altcoins and altchains. Even private ledgers and sidechains.


Why Altcoins are Good for You

Bitcoin market cap is currently around 17 billion, that's more than every single altcoin combined. If anything every goes wrong with bitcoin there's not a very reliable place to move value easily used or off-ramped in case of emergency so a few stable and valuable digital assets in addition to bitcoin would be beneficial to everyone.

That said, nothing remotely comes close to the security of the blockchain so there is still risk on other networks, however it's nice to know some are now available. Not to mention these valuations certainly are profitable to invest in.

As far was what to invest in, look to assets that provide privacy or functionality (either on their own or as a sidechain to bitcoin's blockchain) and you'll likely invest in a good asset.

There's also always BitcoinPlus, no telling why that asset has exploded as of late, but it's up 1000%+

Get on it!



Article by dinbits
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