The most common spelling is "altcoin." As for the Feathercoin example, yes. Most proof-of-work coins - like BTC - have halving intervals measured in blocks. If you want to create a whole slew of meaningless altcoins, then yeah scrypt is a good way to go. A maximum coin supply over 100M has been done several times, and hasn't proven itself impractical. Dogecoin, for example, has 100 billion maximum coins, as well as built-in inflation which means even more coins. It is possible for a new coin to trade at any rate, one cent, five dollars, etc. Coins are worth whatever someone is willing to pay. Shitcoin developers tend to keep the block reward extremely low, like less than 50 per block, when they want the coin's market value to be high.
Now, this is informative, echoing the same sentiment for TheMage's post between yours and this one. Thanks to both you guys.
Is SCRYPT the way to go if the whole slew of altcoins aren't meaningless, i.e. back by formidable brands?
Of course I, too, desire to the various Altcoins to be successful, as do the brands backing each alt, but feel that the initial block reward should/could be 100 coins. Practical?
Filling in some variables using the same example to help illustrate what's in store:
Abbreviation/Ticker Symbol: Up to 6 characters, with no less than 2 with 3 minimum preferred.
Algorithm: SCRYPT (pending)
Total Coins:
Confirm Per Transaction: 4 sounds like a square number.
Re-Target Time: ?
Block Time: 5 Minutes
Block Reward: 100 Coins
Diff Adjustment: Toying with a hybrid based on the exchange rate.
There are no rules for abbreviations (or anything with coins). I suggested scrypt because there are powerful ASICs for it that can secure the blockchain without requiring a lot of miners. (A lot of miners mine shiny new coins that they can sell, but they stop mining as soon as a shinier, newer coin comes.) You could also use X11 or a meaningless higher number like X13. There are no ASICs for them yet, but it won't be hard to make them. Another option is proof-of-stake, which is currently popular in shitcoins. It doesn't require miners.
You can have block rewards start at 100. You can have them start at 10. Also difficulty re-target time is usually not required, instead coins use Kimoto Gravity Well or Dark Gravity Wave to adjust difficulty more efficiently. But I see you're planning something different for difficulty adjustment. You can save some time by forking Darkcoin; that's what most shitcoins are doing.
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