Right on Vlad. Maybe Friction can add to this cause he really understands this tech.
But it's shocking to see how many people have no idea what this technology is and what makes it better than the next crypto. It's shocking to see the masses pile into an inferior CrapCoin which has not been time tested nor does it have the current or the possible future secured network withouth which no crypto can ever really make it while they put their money into a completely unproven crypto, which, like you said, would fork, die or simply not be able to add the necessary hash rate to ensure security on a massive scale.
99% of all the CrapCoins out there have absolutely not chance at ever being a major player regardless of their services and community simply because they do not now not will they ever have a secure network like Bitcoin or iXcoin. When people finally understand this simple fact they will abandon all those coins and pile into coins like iXcoin.
And maybe you're right, Vlad, maybe it will take the smart money, Wall Street, to show everyone where to invest cause it doesn't seem the masses really get it even though it's fairly simple to understand.
Finally, thanks for all your observations, Vlad, even the religious ones. I like to see all the information and I will choose what's best for me and my money. Please continue pointing out anything you see - even if it's a crazy coincidence. Some of the greatest findings in the world have been just that.
Vlad is correct that the number one priority of a crypto-currency is to ensure security. Satoshi Nakomoto did choose to have 10 minutes per block because he believed that its should be fair for all participants of the network to see all transactions propagate to all participants prior to the creation of a new block. By going with a 1 minute block rate, one risks an uneven creation of blocks reserved for only those miners that happen to be in close proximity to each other.
The issue of fast confirmation times are really the domain of gateways like Open Transactions and Ripple like systems. In fact, the micro transactions implementation of Bitcoin works in this manner. Fast confirmations creates for more insecure block chains. Furthermore, people who say it is necessary for any real payment technology are completely clueless. Bitcoin already has what is called green addresses, in fact, if you send a transaction using Coinbase to another user who also happens to use Coinbase, the confirmation is almost instantaneous.
Anyway, the crypto-currency investors are littered with absolutely clueless people.