To many people in the Bitcoin community, altcoins are considered nothing more than scams. Part of the reason is that altcoin developers and promoters are often found telling people to purchase an altcoin for their own financial benefit; however, this is not the case for Monero developer Riccardo Spagni .
Spagni holds a relatively pragmatic view on altcoins. The Monero developer has told individuals with limited funds to not buy the altcoin. In fact, he has stated , “The most likely scenario is that Monero fails entirely.”
To many, Spagni’s unique take on the altcoin market, especially as a developer in the space, is quite refreshing. In a recent interview with Bitcoin Magazine , Spagni expanded on his views related to Monero and altcoins in general.
The Majority of Altcoins Are Outright Scams
Many people refer to altcoins as casinos and testnets . When asked for his opinion on this description of the altcoin market, Spagni said: “The majority are outright scams. There’s no mincing words with this, and I think it’s absolutely disgusting. From obvious premined or instamined scams, to the more subtle mining scams that attempt to hide the premine from block explorers, there are a lot of scams meant to outrightly enrich the creators.
“Identifying scams is made doubly difficult because of the existence of professional, highly motivated groups that are behind them, who often co-opt innocent developers who think they’re genuinely building something unique.” In addition to the scams in the altcoin market, Spagni also sees Bitcoin clones, “corporate coins” (which are altcoins that have raised funds from investors), and a small number of coins that have something unique to offer. When it comes to those altcoins offering something useful or unique, Spagni claimed, “To fall into that last category is really hard. I’m not even sure Monero […]
