user1891: The amount of bitcoin-like crypto currencies overwhelms me.
Just few minutes ago I came across FeatherCoin
The problem is that the information on the official site is scarce and the only thing I was able to understand is that the difference from litecoin is the block reward and the total amount of coins.
What is the point of this?

user4070: Like most alt coins, feathercoin is simply a currency with a different set of parameters than bitcoin. In this particular case, they use scrypt for block generation (which is more ASIC resistant) and the block reward is higher at 200 coins per block. I also believe feathercoin follows litecoin's reward target of one block per 2.5 minutes. 
If you believe that the hordes of bitcoins early adopters have alongside the prevalence of ASICs in bitcoin mining are issues, then you may be inclined to adopt litecoin or feathercoin. That said, the market scope is considerably smaller and there really isn't any significant technology differences between Bitcoin and feathercoin thus it's unlikely feathercoin will achieve broad market penetration.  

user593: The point of Feathercoin (and the other alt coins) is to see what works and what can gain traction. Feathercoin is where Bitcoin was in 2009-2010—one FTC is about $0.13.
CoinDesk had a pretty good article on Feathercoin: Feathercoin shows heavyweight potential.
Intro to Feathercoin has a good list of Feathercoin resources.

user1307: Most Bitcoin lookalikes are not really worth looking at. The two that are more or less accepted are Litecoin and Namecoin, of which the latter is not intended as a currency. Another more or less popular cryptocurrency that is not based on Bitcoin is Ripple.
I know that there are many more Bitcoin-based currencies. Most of them are not adopted and are thus insignificant. The value of such currencies is made by the willingness of people to exchange them for value, like objects or other money. As long as no one uses these alternative currencies, they are of no meaning at all.
And frankly, wouldn't it be better to first try to make one cryptocurrency succeed instead of spawning hundreds of others before the world knows what a cryptocurrency is?...

1891: <p>The amount of bitcoin-like crypto currencies overwhelms me.</p>

<p>Just few minutes ago I came across <a href="http://www.feathercoin.com/about/">FeatherCoin</a></p>

<p>The problem is that the information on the official site is scarce and the only thing I was able to understand is that the difference from litecoin is the block reward and the total amount of coins.</p>

<p>What is the point of this?</p>
 4070: <p>Like most alt coins, feathercoin is simply a currency with a different set of parameters than bitcoin. In this particular case, they use scrypt for block generation (which is more ASIC resistant) and the block reward is higher at 200 coins per block. I also believe feathercoin follows litecoin's reward target of one block per 2.5 minutes. </p>

<p>If you believe that the hordes of bitcoins early adopters have alongside the prevalence of ASICs in bitcoin mining are issues, then you may be inclined to adopt litecoin or feathercoin. That said, the market scope is considerably smaller and there really isn't any significant technology differences between Bitcoin and feathercoin thus it's unlikely feathercoin will achieve broad market penetration.  </p>
 593: <p>The point of Feathercoin (and the other alt coins) is to see what works and what can gain traction. Feathercoin is where Bitcoin was in 2009-2010—one FTC is about $0.13.</p>

<p>CoinDesk had a pretty good article on Feathercoin: <a href="http://www.coindesk.com/feathercoin-shows-heavyweight-potential/">Feathercoin shows heavyweight potential</a>.</p>

<p><a href="http://forum.feathercoin.com/index.php?topic=3.0">Intro to Feathercoin</a> has a good list of Feathercoin resources.</p>
 1307: <p>Most Bitcoin lookalikes are not really worth looking at. The two that are more or less accepted are Litecoin and Namecoin, of which the latter is <a href="https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/10188/is-namecoin-a-currency">not intended as a currency</a>. Another more or less popular cryptocurrency that is not based on Bitcoin is Ripple.</p>

<p>I know that there are many more Bitcoin-based currencies. Most of them are not adopted and are thus insignificant. The value of such currencies is made by the willingness of people to exchange them for value, like objects or other money. As long as no one uses these alternative currencies, they are of no meaning at all.</p>

<p>And frankly, wouldn't it be better to first try to make one cryptocurrency succeed instead of spawning hundreds of others before the world knows what a cryptocurrency is?...</p>
