Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency created and it continues to dominate the crypto industry. More than 60% of the crypto market is Bitcoin, which speak volumes in itself. Though coins like Ethereum, Dash, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, etc. have gained significant popularity, they are nowhere close to Bitcoin.
Popular Bitcoin Economist Saifedean Ammous tweeted on Friday that crypto is a zero-sum game and that other tokens are not innovating, but merely copying Bitcoin. This was in response to a tweet by Blockstack chief Muneeb Ali’s tweet that
You can be long on Bitcoin and support other innovations in crypto. Crypto is not a zero-sum game.
Cryptocurrencies are a zero sum game, and if you're not Bitcoin you've already lost.
Copying bitcoin is not innovation, it's just a new way of running an old scam: money printing. Actual innovations will be built on Bitcoin NOT by people copying it to print their own money. https://t.co/6TD0aLGF0Y— Saifedean Ammous (@saifedean) July 19, 2019
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While it is true that Bitcoin inspired others to create digital currencies using distributed decentralized ledger technology, saying that they simply copied Bitcoin would be a too harsh statement to make. Ammous accused that other cryptocurrencies are new versions of the old scam, i.e., money printing.
While Bitcoin still remains the most trades token, the feats achieved by networks like Ripple, Stellar, etc., are nothing short of excellent. Ripple, for example, is now used by over 200 financial institutions worldwide, including big banks. Its XRapid, and XCurrent platforms have played a vital role in establishing crypto as a legit industry. Replying to Ammous, CEO of crypto exchange ShapeShift, Erik Voorhees said,
This is just not true. One chain cannot optimize for all variables and all desired attributes of a digital asset. Thus multiple will exist, and further, while in part competitive, they are also in part complimentary and constructive. “Only BTC” is a weaker landscape.
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The crypto industry has moved forward from just being an alternate currency to fiat, to becoming an important tool of value transfer and exchange globally. The recent feat achieved by Binance DEX, for example, is a testimony to the fact. The decentralized crypto exchange of the Binance Chain managed to complete a transaction worth over $1.2 billion in BNB, in just 1.1 seconds, and for a mere $0.015 in transaction fees. Imagining such a feat on Bitcoin chain is unimaginable at the moment.
