Altcoins have lower transaction fees and confirmation time.
Aside from the disadvantage of discouraging a portion of its owners from actually spending it, Bitcoin also does not compare favorably with certain altcoins in terms of how it can actually be used in practice to buy goods and services. Devan Calabrez acknowledges:
"Bitcoin is definitely useful as a means of payment, especially for higher price items and across borders. On the other hand, few people are using Bitcoin to buy cheap items like paper plates, for good reason. The weaknesses include high volatility, transaction times and fees that are paid by the buyers which create barriers to conversion. The weaknesses tend to put a damper on sales by Bitcoin for low-cost items. "
BTC generally has the highest transaction fees of the major cryptocurrencies. BitInfoCharts puts its current average transaction fee at $ 0.72. This may seem relatively low when compared to the $ 55 peak in fees it witnessed in December, but as the list below illustrates, it still falls significantly short of its major rivals:
These are current rates, but when you look at the six-month and annual charts, it becomes apparent that during times of heavy congestion, Bitcoin also tends to spike upward more dramatically than its nearest competitors. On June 20, its daily average fee shot up to $ 6.852, an increase of 132.6 percent compared to the day before. On the other hand, Bitcoin Cash and Dash's six-month peaks were only $ 0.217 and $ 1.25 respectively, with these highs both falling on Feb.. 20, when Bitcoin's average fee was $ 3.042 (it rose to $ 6.209 four days later). Meanwhile, Litecoin's six-month peak was $ 0.416 (on Feb. 26), although Ethereum's was $ 5.528 (on July 2, when it was most likely subjected to a spam attack).