Despite a plethora of new coins coming online in the past year, and the emergence of ethereum as an alternative cryptocurrency, bitcoin is still sucking up most of the oxygen. Without a doubt, the new coins’ sponsors owe a debt of gratitude to bitcoin for blazing a trail. Sure, growth has been phenomenal, including a 55-fold increase over the past 12 months, but not quite at the long-term rate enjoyed by bitcoin. This may also be because most exchanges offer some kind of bitcoin pairing, and many only allow trades into and out of fiat currencies via bitcoin. It’s still the Wild West in Coinlandia, and there’s no sense that bitcoin is going to go away anytime soon.

Source: Mint November 30, 2017 07:07 UTC