Summary: Altcoins almost always promise an improvement on Bitcoin, whether that is faster transactions or lower fees, enhanced privacy or some other killer use case. However, this is almost always marketing hype, with altcoins being a history of failure. For newcomers to Bitcoin, falling into the trap of investing in altcoins is easy. With the price of Bitcoin approaching all-time highs, we will undoubtedly soon see a wave of news coverage and an influx of newcomers to the space. So, should you avoid altcoins? Bitcoin Maximalists say yes, while many others say no. In this interview, I talk to Dan Held, the Director of Business Development at Kraken and Erik Voorhees, the founder and CEO of ShapeShift. Dan and Erik debate Bitcoin vs altcoins, DeFi, decentralisation and security.
