The Archives at the Factory

Navigating the World of Cryptocurrency:

In The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy the characters visit the planet Magrathea which is home to the planet building industry.  Bitcoin is much like Magrathea and the Alt-coins in the cryptocurrency universe are like the planets that get built.

What are Alt-coins?

Altcoins are cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin. Altcoin is a combination of two words: “alt” and “coin”; alt is short for alternative and coin as to do with currency; together they imply a category of cryptocurrency that is alternative to Bitcoin itself.

The majority of altcoins are forks of Bitcoin and are slight changes to the underlying Blockchain. Altcoins are the later alternative cryptocurrencies launched after the immense success Bitcoin had after its release in 2009. After the Bitcoin became a success, many other peer-to-peer digital currencies have emerged in an attempt to imitate it.

In General, altcoins are alternatives to bitcoin because they tend to improve and solve the Bitcoin protocol’s limitations and features. Alternative currencies aim to be better substitutes to Bitcoin, or serve different niche markets. (more…)