Ethereum Q&A: Altcoins and the Scaling Debate

Zcash and Ethereum as alternatives to Bitcoin. I'm very interested in both, I have used & run nodes for them, and experimented with the testnet. But not as "alternatives," rather as complements to Bitcoin that specialise. My argument has been that Bitcoin and Ethereum do not compete directly. Many of the characteristics that they have chosen to differentiate in make them unable to do what Bitcoin does. Bitcoin has been doing it longer, so there is network-effect as well. In the short term, they do compete indirectly for the attention of developers and speculative investors; as a technology, they do not compete any more than a lion competes with a shark. It is about choosing platforms that fit a particular niche or purpose. Are you doing complex smart contracts that require flexibility? Ethereum. Do you want robust store-of-value without consensus failures? Bitcoin. Zcash is making trade-offs for privacy and anonymity. Conservatism vs. an attitude of 'move fast, break things.' You don't reconcile them, you choose the thing that fits the niche and is adapted to that particular environment.