Feathercoin is a similar altcoin to Bitcoin, compared to the other altcoins. For instance, its method of mining is akin to that of Bitcoin and its system is created to function so much like that of Bitcoin. Also, Feathercoin has a supply limit and depends on P2P community monitoring for stability.
The primary difference between Feathercoin and Bitcoin is that Feathercoin uses Scrypt algorithm in its mining process to make sure that ASIC miners do not have a significant advantage over GPU miners. At the moment, it is almost impossible for GPU miners to mine substantial amounts of Bitcoins. Miners with powerful and expensive ASIC machines have dominated the Bitcoin scene. Feathercoin ensures that GPU miners can reasonably compete with ASIC miners.
There are 336 million available Feathercoin, and miners get a reward of 200 coins whenever they mine a block. This number is halved when 840,000 Feathercoin are mined. Moreover, while bitcoin is set to produce a block after every 10 minutes, Feathercoin aims at producing a block within 2.5 minutes. The people behind Feathercoin are confident the higher supply of new Feathercoin and the higher limit will make the coin more stable and popular.
On the other hand, Bitcoin has a limit of 21 million Bitcoins, and only 25 Bitcoins are generated whenever a block is mined. Quite a few people think bitcoin will eventually fail since there will not be enough Bitcoins to keep the system going. There are tons upon tons of American dollars circulating in the global economy, facilitating trade and creating liquidity. So it leaves the question of how Bitcoin will survive with so few Bitcoins.
Many critics maintain that Bitcoins available in the market are too few and according to them, a cryptocurrency like Feathercoin is more attractive. Nonetheless, Bitcoin supporters argue that is how Bitcoin was designed from the beginning and there is a purpose for that, to make sure the value of Bitcoins never drops and avoid being vulnerable to inflation. In their opinion, Feathercoin is more susceptible to these issues.
Feathercoin “Advanced Checkpoint” system is another critical concept. This system builds a central node via which the software can track Feathercoin transactions and make sure that no one can launch a 51% attack. A 51% attack allows a miner who has control over 51% of all mining production to fundamentally double spend Bitcoins. This advanced checkpoint also protects the currency against any other potential weaknesses.
There are so many things to consider when evaluating altcoins. It should be noted that as of now, all online currencies are highly speculative and, therefore, you must be extremely careful as you invest in them. If you have developed an interest in online currencies, keep an eye on Feathercoin and other altcoins. Currently, Bitcoin may seem to have a significant and probably insurmountable lead. However, there is a possibility of another altcoin catching up or even surpassing the great Bitcoin.
