Cryptocurrency: Altcoins & ICO's discussion over beer

Bitcoin is on a tear. It was at a mere $1000 USD at the start of the year, and it's currently at $8300 USD. Bitcoin has proved time and time again to be one of the best and certainly the most consistent cryptocurrency.

But can this growth be sustained, or will other cryptocurrencies start to overtake Bitcoin? Bitcoin has no shortage of issues it has to overcome: long confirmation times and high transaction fees (about $10 CAD/transaction) just to name a couple.

There are well over 1000 alternate cryptocurrencies out there. Thus far, none have bested Bitcoin. Many are designed to be used for specific purposes rather than a 'catch all' e.g. International payments, consumer transactions, or even machine-to-machine transactions. Will any be able to dethrone Bitcoin? Ripple? Bitcoin Cash? Iota? Dash? NEO? Ethereum?

Let's discuss some of the most prominent 'Altcoins' over a few drinks. We can also touch on some of the most promising ICO's going on as well as some ICO's that have recently concluded.