This is another installment of Learning Crypto-

A series of videos that cover questions commonly asked by those who are new to bitcoin, cryptocurrency and blockchain technology.

Today let’s explore why other cryptocurrencies exist.

Bitcoin was designed in the spirit of financial freedom and removal of third parties in regards to handling your money.
It was also designed to be open source.
This means that the code for Bitcoin is viewable by anyone who wants to see it.

The idea of open source has a number of other implications tied to it, many of which are philosophical and revolve around replacing feeling threatened by competition and instead encourage expansion.
And to go a bit deeper, it reflects a confidence in the belief that ones creativity is not limited.
By encouraging the sharing of ideas instead of being closed off and secretive, a better outcome will unfold.

Bringing this ideology into this realm of Bitcoin:

Open sourced code has led others to take this idea of peer-2-peer transactions and building on it and tweaking it in ways that determined how their own cryptocurrency could be different.

Since the inception of Bitcoin in January 2009, there is now over 1100 cryptocurrencies, most of which have come into existence recently.
You should be aware that many of these are scams, merely tagging along for the ride of this surge in new coins and taking advantage of eager and uneducated investors, and they don’t have a real long term plan at all.

But there are a few gems that have legitimate use cases matched with very talented development teams among other important qualities.

If you’re interested in learning more about the different cryptocurrencies that are available I encourage you to browse through my previous posts here that feature specific coins so you can get a better sense of how these different cryptos and the teams behind them seek to make their mark on this new frontier of cryptocurrency and blockchain tech.

Additional Reading/Sources:

Marxist Theory of Knowledge and Creativity
More on creative people
Definition of Open Source
Check out Other Cryptocurrencies on CoinMarketCap