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Topic: What do you look for in new alt coins? (Read 746 times)

legendary
Activity: 1708
Merit: 1036
June 25, 2014, 12:37:56 PM
#4
This is a good question. Here are some thoughts:

1. I look for coins with a clear sense of purpose - a niche they are trying to fill.
2. Evidence that they have a vision and are capable of being Best-in-Class in filling their niche.
3. Evidence of innovative ideas or software that monetizes their ideas - merchant solutions, anonymity - reasons for people to want and value the coin.
4. Evidence that any new ideas they have cannot be easily copied by other coins.
5. Evidence of a sound marketing strategy (this includes not having a stupid name or other faux pas).
6. Transparent and communicative devs. (Not constantly posting in their announcement threads, but keeping the community up to date with regular news, a schedule/timeline, and answering significant questions).
7. Evidence of competence on the part of the dev team (ideally more than one person) and hitting milestones, and being honest about any shortfalls in doing so.
8. White papers, with necessary detail/evidence to support their plans.
9. Evidence of community support and good cooperation between supporters and the devs on supporting plans/projects.
10. Website (not bare-bones) with news and information and so forth dedicated to the coin.
11. No evidence of serious issues with the blockchain. Faster confirmation times (without much forking) are a plus.
12. A clean launch and absence of reported glitches in the coin's software (including wallets, etc.)

What I don't care about (more or less):
1. Copycats with no real innovation.
2. Novelty ideas (such as yin/yang) that have no real long term point to them.
3. New algorithms or factors that influence how hard/easy it is to mine the coin. (Since the supply of the coin is invariant whether mined with graphing calculators or ASIC farms.)
4. Coin supply. (Affects price expectations, but not whether a coin will succeed or not)
5. How distributed the coin is (rich list). A highly concentrated coin with 50 wealthy bagholders has a pool of people strongly motivated to make it succeed, while a coin with a million people holding $5 each of it, no one really cares about. So if anything I'd prefer to see some highly concentrated holdings, even with the risk of price manipulation.
6. Harping overmuch about getting on exchanges; that will take care of itself if the coin is successful.
7. Copying of other coins' code. If it works and isn't violating some agreement/law, there's no problem with using what works as a starting point.
8. Premine. Unless it is poorly explained and/or excessive. If the devs make the address public for scrutiny and have good, detailed plans for it then I don't pay much attention.
9. Cosmetic wallet features/design.

Could probably list some more but here's a good start.
sr. member
Activity: 566
Merit: 250
June 25, 2014, 11:30:34 AM
#3
I think a coin that does not have so many coins available it seems like
when a new coin comes out and they have so many coins like DOGECoin it
will never be worth anything! so i guess investing in a coin that does not have
a big number of coins available. I am not one of the vets of crypto but its just what i think. Cool
legendary
Activity: 2212
Merit: 1199
June 25, 2014, 11:10:13 AM
#2
I am sure that for each one of us there are different needs from an altcoin.

I like to see hardly working developers and for me an interesting altcoin must have good devs which do their job with a passion.

newbie
Activity: 8
Merit: 0
June 24, 2014, 12:47:20 PM
#1
Just getting some research and info.

What does the community look for in new alt coins?
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