For many years, members of the crypto community have referred to cryptocurrencies according to two categories, which are summarized as “Bitcoin and the rest.” Thus, for many users the only real cryptocurrency would be Bitcoin and the other virtual currencies are nothing more than “alts”. However, this could be changing, since, as Vitalik Buterin said in the Tweet of the day, Ethereum is not an alt, or at least it shouldn’t be qualified as such:
Is Ethereum still an alt?
When Bitcoin was born almost twelve years ago, it was very difficult to predict how far the crypto world would go. And is that, thanks to Blockchain technology, and the design created by Satoshi Nakamoto, in just a few years hundreds of different cryptocurrencies have emerged. Which have been known since birth as “alt”. Hinting that, although they are virtual currencies, they are different from Bitcoin, and therefore they would not have their importance.
This vision is being challenged today. And it is that, although effectively no cryptocurrency has managed to create a community or a Blockchain as large and strong as that of Bitcoin. The virtual currencies that have been born in recent years have established important precedents. Consolidating structures with millions of users and dozens of different functions.
For this reason many, including Vitalik Buterin, consider that it is incorrect to speak of these cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin with the generic name of «alt». Which does not express the enormous diversity of cryptocurrencies and functions performed by them today:
«In plain language that everyone can understand: In 2020, continuing to refer to Ethereum as alt is as old-fashioned as referring to a lambo as a horseless carriage«.
Although, of course, not everyone agrees with the words of Vitalik Buterin. The truth is that more and more, cryptocurrencies known as “alt” are gaining more prominence in the crypto market. Overturning Bitcoin on many occasions, as happened with the DeFi boom in recent months.
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