Bitcoin is also polluting the environment with the PoW algorithm using too much energy for mining. So there is many arguments NOT to use Bitcoin, but why do we still do it?
If you want to trade altcoins on exchanges you almost always trade against Bitcoin instead of USD (or USD Teather). So you NEED to have Bitcoin. I know that more exchanges allow trading against Ethereum and others, but still the most popular marked is BTC/XXX (where xxx is any given coin).
For me it is clear that this has to change to stop the rise in Bitcoin. I think most of us is tired of the long confirmation time in the Bitcoin block chain that can take up to an hour or more. It's embarrassing for any crypto to have such a long validation time.
I therefore hope that exchanges will adapt USD as the standard measure and stop having Bitcoin/Altcoin pairs.... it will probably not happen. I'm just saying what I would like to see.
I think exactly that is keeping the Bitcoin price high.
Comments?
Also posted here: http://rimbit.dk/showthread.php?tid=656
You kind of answered your own question, the reason bitcoin always rises is because it is the reserve currency of altcoins, all alts are traded against bitcoin and using $ on an exchange comes with a lot of attached regulation.
Bitcoin is not necessarily the best coin but it has the first mover advantage that has given it reserve status. Eventually its dominance will reduce more and more, I mean back in the day on coinmarketcap it was over 90%, now it hovers around 50%, wait for it to be just 10-30% and that's when you will see things change.
Even now you see ETH as a trading pair to other alts on most exchanges, its a slow process but it will happen eventually.