3 Altcoins That Make Bitcoin Look Like a Stone Age Calculator

Bitcoin. We all know it. The granddaddy of crypto. Face it—sticking with Bitcoin today just for the sake of it being the first is retrograde. It’s the equivalent of refusing to use a smartphone and holding out for Americans to switch back to rotary phones. It may have gotten us here, amen, but the world has passed that grace period. And if you’re serious about your crypto investments, it’s time for you to rise up as well.

I’m not claiming that Bitcoin is going to zero. It has fierce brand recognition and that counts for something. But technological stagnation isn't a winning strategy. It's like watching your neighbor still driving a horse and buggy while you're stuck in traffic in your Tesla. You love the retro appeal, but you’re not trading in just yet.

Can Bitcoin Actually Do Anything?

Think about it. Bitcoin’s entire value proposition rests on the claim that it’s digital gold. Okay, fine. But gold doesn't do much beyond sit in a vault and occasionally adorn someone's neck. Smart contracts, decentralized finance (DeFi), NFTs and Web3 gaming are just the beginning. In dramatic contrast, Bitcoin is mostly shut out of these innovations. Its lack of scriptability is comparable to designing a 100 floor skyscraper with Lego Duplo building-blocks.

Let's talk transactions. Now imagine trying to just buy a cup of coffee with Bitcoin. You wait… and wait… and pay a convenience fee that would have purchased you a second cup of coffee. That’s not a currency, that’s a collector’s piece. That’s the equivalent of using a carrier pigeon to deliver your email. Charming, but wildly impractical.

It’s not merely about speed — it’s about the exciting opportunities that quicker, less expensive transactions can provide. Picture this, where micro-payments are seamless like we’ve never imagined. In this new reality, artists are able to produce new work and get paid for it in real time, and decentralized applications run millions of economies seamlessly. Bitcoin simply can't deliver that vision. Yet it’s trapped in the past, while these altcoins are creating the future, one block at a time.

Ethereum The App Store Of Crypto

Ethereum. It’s the platform that most closely fulfills the promise of a decentralized and user-oriented internet. As Bitcoin goes off to be digital gold, Ethereum is laying down the digital plumbing. Consider Bitcoin a calculator, Ethereum a personal computer. You can do so much more.

I get it, Ethereum has had their growing pains with gas fees and scalability. Yet the Merge was still an enormous breakthrough, moving the platform to a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism. This cut its energy use by about 99.5% and set the stage for additional scaling solutions such as sharding.

As we’ve said, Ethereum is the foundation behind the DeFi explosion, NFTs, and thousands of other amazing new use cases. It’s more than a currency, it’s an innovation and communication platform. Think of it like the app store for crypto! Now, any developer can freely experiment and produce and deploy decentralized applications that have the potential to disrupt existing paradigms across industries from finance to art. And it’s the operating system for this new internet. Want to be a part of that? Ditch the calculator.

Solana and Avalanche Are Faster

Alright, fine, Ethereum is awesome tinged with revolutionary potential. Solana and Avalanche are two such altcoins that are taking speed and scalability to new extremes.

Solana is fast. Like, really fast. We’re even discussing transaction speeds that compete with legacy payment processors. And the fees? Throw away that $14 Bitcoin coffee avocado toast! With Solana, you can pick up 12oz of coffee for the equivalent of 6 cents.

Avalanche, as opposed to its competitors, presents an architecture that allows it to process many blockchains at a time rather than just one. It’s essentially an unlimited interstate highway for crypto transactions, where each lane is a different type of transaction. This is what makes it so extremely flexible and applicable to so many different use cases.

These aren’t just aesthetic changes or minor tweaks, these are bold steps in a completely new direction. They’re akin to going from a dial-up modem to fiber optic internet. Bitcoin maximalists have lost themselves in block size wars. In the opposite world, Solana and Avalanche are busy building out the foundations for the next generation of decentralized applications.

It’s all to say that I’m not claiming these altcoins are without risks – far from it. Investing in any cryptocurrency is a gamble. But if you're looking for innovation, speed, and scalability, Bitcoin simply can't compete. It’s a dinosaur of the past, while Ethereum, Solana, and Avalanche are the innovation infrastructure of the future. So out with stone age calculator and in with the real crypto revolution. Your portfolio will thank you.

This is not financial advice. Please do your own research when making decisions about any cryptocurrency.

(Disclaimer: This is not financial advice. Do your own research before investing in any cryptocurrency.)