cryptocurrencies is the umbrella term for all cryptographic based currencies, thus including bitcoin.
then beneath that it separates into bitcoin litecoin and namecoin (the three main first gen) and altcoins, where most the other cheap pump and dump altcoins exist which have atleast 50% code copied from the first gen.
then beneath that it separates into bitcoin litecoin and namecoin (the three main first gen) and altcoins, where most the other cheap pump and dump altcoins exist which have atleast 50% code copied from the first gen.
Personally, I would include litecoin and namecoin under the altcoin category, but I recognize that a significant number of people feel that those two stand on their own regardless of how much they are based on Bitcoin and don't consider them to be altcoins.
I Believe litecoin is significantly and deliberately different in bitcoin and was before the phase of hobbyist coin cloning, thus i consider litecoin part of the first gen grouping. the same goes for namecoin. but altcoins are mainly clones with minor tweaks and not really any intellectual reasoning for it.
there may be new coins in the future where the code and purpose is so unique they themselves join the first gen group in the future, but my aim was to describe the 'hierachy' of currency more so that what group certain elements belong into.
@billbags, i am fully open to sharing anything i put out into the community so dont feel its plagiarism. but atleast try to style my image better as it was just a 2 minute job to make the point. here maybe a better version to help peoples understanding
