Catcoin - Just Another Copycat
In the beginning of cryptocurrency, there was only Bitcoin, and this was good. It didn’t take long, however, for people who understood blockchain technology to start launching their own cryptocurrencies. Many of these cryptocurrencies were almost complete copies of Bitcoin and Litecoin, the 2 major cryptos in the early years. Sometimes, the developers of alternative cryptocurrencies changed only little details like the logo, coin supply, block time, etc. without introducing any new technology.Catcoin (CAT) is an excellent example of a copy-coin and was launched in 2013.
It has a maximum limit of 21 million coins, block intervals of 10 minutes, 50 coins per block until halving after 210,000 blocks just like Bitcoin. The algorithm used is Scrypt, which is completely copied from Litecoin. Essentially, this coin is a Frankenstein-esque mixture of Bitcoin and Litecoin with a picture of a cat slapped on it, and it brings no new technology to the table.
Are Investors of this Coin Simply Cat Lovers?
Despite this coin being a copycat, it has gained value. People have actually spent real USD and Bitcoin to purchase CAT; the only sensible explanation for this ridiculous decision making is these investors and traders overwhelmingly like cats. Perhaps they gifted some Catcoin to their cats for their cat’s birthday, which is undoubtedly a noble way to burn this cryptocurrency out of existence.
Currently, each CAT is worth $0.023 with 6.38 million coins in circulation, yielding an unremarkable market cap of $147,000. This is not even in the top 1,000 cryptocurrency market caps, but it is incredible that a cryptocurrency that’s a complete copy of Bitcoin and Litecoin with a cat slapped onto its logo attained a market cap over $100,000. Trading volume is extremely feeble, however, at about $100 per day, so the market cap isn't indicative of the real value of Catcoin.
Inactive Reddit & Bitcointalk Community
If a significant amount of CAT were to be sold, the price would drop to zero and all the money would be sucked out of the market. The minuscule trading volume is the true indicator that there is barely any demand for this coin, and it is not widely used. At this point, most of the coins are probably sitting idle in wallets that have been lost or forgotten.
The Catcoin community on Bitcointalk and Reddit is almost entirely inactive, and the development team has done nothing to improve the coin since launch. The real lesson that this crypto teaches us is that you can create a cryptocurrency about anything, make it a complete copy of a better cryptocurrency, and it could easily gain hundreds of thousands of dollars of value despite you putting almost no effort into it.
If you liked this article, check out our magazine, comic and this article as well!
This is not advice. Advice should be accepted by your chosen legal counsel only and financial advice should come from a licensed or certified financial professional. As always – do your homework and make decisions based on your own education. Seek information and look into projects before adding to or diversifying your portfolios.
References:
https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/catcoin/
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : https://cryptocoremedia.com/catcoin-copycat-bitcoin/