Bitcoin isn’t Facebook — But which coin is the Facebook?

Six Degrees was the first modern social network and it was launched in 1997. In 1999, Six Degrees was bought for $125 million during the Dot-com bubble. However, it was shut down in 2001. In 2002 Friendster, in 2003 LinkedIn and MySpace were founded. That was the time for social network sites to flourish. MySpace was getting more page views than Google by 2005. After all, among those early social networking platforms, only LinkedIn has survived with 100 million active users. In 2004, Facebook was founded, and it was the biggest of all in 2009. Today, it has about 2,000 million active users. Being successor isn’t a disadvantage to become biggest of social network platforms and Facebook reached summit of social networking sites 5 years after its establishment. On the other side, being first also doesn’t guarantee to being biggest or even doesn’t promise to survive. Like we see in the case of those early social network sites (Six Degrees, MySpace etc.). In this respect, cryptocurrency makes no difference. Bitcoin is the first and the biggest. But how long does Bitcoin will remain at the summit of cryptocurrency mountain? Is it strong enough to endure all the challenges that continuously strike to Bitcoin. Furthermore, challenges don’t always come from outside. Bitcoin has some inner problems (we’ll talk about it) to handle. So, it is suspicious that people treat Bitcoin like it will survive forever, isn’t it? Bitcoin’s destination may similar to Six Degrees, MySpace or LinkedIn. Who knows? When Facebook was launched, no one was whispering about it. It couldn’t draw any attention for a couple of years. Likewise, maybe we aren’t talking about the cryptocurrency that will has largest market dominance in 5 years. Further, maybe it hasn’t created yet. So, we know that Bitcoin isn’t Facebook, then which is it? In order to answer this question, we have to perceive what is wrong with Bitcoin and how cryptocurrency becomes one of the biggest coin in the future (from now on future biggest coin is called BCF). Cryptocurrency market has nearly thousand different coins. There are few high-class cryptocurrencies among countless of shitty coins and I prepared a list that contains criteria indicating how to find out those high-class coins. I want to strongly emphasize that maybe BCF hasn’t created yet. People might have different criteria to assess quality of cryptocurrency. It is normal to have different evaluation factors. But I believe that BCF will achieve several of criteria that are listed below, maybe it couldn’t provide all of them, however it will check most of them. And lastly, do not forget that this post isn’t an investment advice. Number 1.Asset name and ticker symbol.It is always better to have good name and memorable ticker. Unique name always favorable. For example, Bitcoin and Ethereum are exclusive names. They are definitely better names than Litecoin. Number 2.Prevalence.Prevalence is a substantial factor. It shouldn’t be forgotten that cryptocurrency is a coin. It has to be used as a currency to buy things. As the coin becomes widespread in our daily life, coin becomes resilient to price fluctuations. If it is only categorized as an investment instrument and not used in daily trade, when majority of people choose another investment instrument, therefore, this coin will disappear. Number 3.Volatility.Coins that has drastically fluctuating price would appear investor as an unreliable currency and such a coin can’t be served as a daily trading currency. Number 4.Transaction time.One of the most significant feature of cryptocurrency is transaction speed because it determines the transaction duration. If a coin has long transaction time, the usability of that coin will drastically decrease. For example, average transaction time of Bitcoin is 10 minutes which is too much to purchase a cup of coffee at the line of Starbucks. However, there are speedy coins faster than Bitcoin transaction such as Dash, Ethereum, Litecoin or Monero. Number 5.Transaction fee.It is no brainier. Expensive transaction fee is burden on users of that coin. It also prevents coin to become prevalent. For instance, I.O.T.A is not requiring any fee on its transaction. This feature makes it preferable. On the other hand, Bitcoin transaction costs about $5 which is insane. It is sometimes expensive than the goods you want to purchase with Bitcoin. It isn’t sustainable to continue like that. Number 6.Mineability.This is my opinion. With the mining process, supply of that coin can be controlled and regulated. Otherwise, supply of coin is undetermined which raises question marks for long term investors such as Ripple or NEM. Number 7.Max supply.Like previous feature, determined maximum supply always give trust to investor. They can plan and invest with knowing how many of that coin will be created at a certain time. It is basic economics that if the resources are limited, price will rise. Increase in value of currency causes deflation which makes daily life difficult. Deflation and inflation are complicated topics that let’s economists deal with it. Yet, determined maximum supply of coin may aggravate markets. Number 8.Technology and Innovation.There are zillions of coins. Why should I invest or use this one? Unique technology always advantageous because they bring benefit to this cryptocurrency system and people could invest salutary something (Hashing algorithm, Proof type etc.). Number 9.Privacy.Privacy is one of the most interesting and complicated feature. Privacy of transaction is controversial since governments hate the privacy of transaction. That’s why, governments may prevent these coins which have private transaction feature. So, they could not become widespread which means they can’t become the Facebook. Finally.Number 10.Branding.It’s all about public relations. Maybe one day, a cryptocurrency enters into market with strong community and concrete public relationship with impressive looking website by the support of big corporations turns cryptocurrency market upside down. — — — — — — — — - Do not treat Bitcoin as if it lasts forever. Grasp that better coins exist, and they are coming for the throne.