Whoa there are up's to alt-coins some may ask and got  ya yeah there are. But lets start with some of the obvious downsides.Just to start off there is a new alt-coin coming out even as we speak probably, and no i'm not being sarcastic it's just a truth right now.There is a new project or idea springing up almost every second right now generating a new coin based upon one block-chain or another or supported on one platform or another. These lists alone can be daunting  and where to put your money errrrrrrgh. Well the truth is for that right now I have no really good answer except diversify a little.

 Here's an upside to the alt-coin puzzle I mine coins, and I mine a lot of different algorithms so I am able to obtain through pools sometimes a lot of lets say alt-coin a. Well I hold tons of alt-coin a and when it goes up even a little i gain, but here's the trick, I also use multi-coin sites I will name none here so as to be impartial as ive run into good and bad ones,but thats only my experience and I am only 1 person. So here's the other deal I use multi-coin faucets and a lot of auto faucets (you complete a captcha or a short-link or both and boom) to collect coins even what is called a crane or airdrop. Now true most of these coins may gain little to no value but I've hit goldmines that are still giving in some. These particular coins are  POS and master-node coins that have been generating more of themselves based on staked amount.

 Staking can be accomplished in a wallet or a staking pool wallets are safer but pools can be more lucrative. Here's the downside of a pool the are not a decentralized platform but rather contained on the host server,this can potentially be a problem if that company closes or gets hacked.But if the risk is worth it to you some of the staking platforms do have some good returns on your holdings. The best however and decentralized way to stake is in your wallet but this usually necessitates a large holding of cons for most wallets and actually discourages a lot of investors that would potentially invest otherwise,stake pools are great for those but carry as I said a greater amount of risk so do your due diligence.

I actually lied I personally see no DOWN side to an alt-coin unless it dies, I personally love them they fuel almost all of my endeavors and add a more diverse risk reward palette for me to choose from and leverage. I may get into leveraging coins for a profit later but right now im focused on POS as a way to make an income. POS is simply point of stake which means your held coins earn coins like a miner does (like me) with our equipment. What I really like about these coins is I dont need anymore equipment to work with them, my collateral held in pool or wallet is paid interest in that coin thereby making it a more stable value by ensuring I make interest by how many coins or how much I have depending on the expense of that coin of token. Yes it sucks when these coins take a dive but they usually level out just like bitcoin does for the most part but none have ever as we know achieved the same stature yet as bitcoin. I think that's the tiny of alt-coins.