[kgwgk]

Today the two major cryptocurrencies are bitcoin and ethereum. The two major cryptocurrencies two weeks ago were bitcoin and bitcoin cash. Three years ago they were bitcoin and ripple. Four years ago [1] the two major cryptocurrencies where bitcoin and litecoin. The next two major cryptocurrencies were peercoin and namecoin (they are 50-75% down over the last 4 years). Will bitcoin remain on top forever? Maybe. But it doesn’t have the properties that give some intrinsic value to gold. It’s not just the network effect. You cannot replicate gold, but you can create new cryptocurrencies (how many hundreds do exist already?) which are just as good as bitcoin or better. Why does the network effect matter anyway if it’s not used for transactions?

[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/reuvencohen/2013/11/27/the-top-...

[hndamien]

A high market cap (for wealth transfer bandwith and lower volatility), high hash-rate (for security) and large number of people willing to accept it as money (for conversion use) also give it value. Hence it isn't exactly true that you can just copy it, these other network effect metrics matter.