Bitcoin was the first truly decentralized cryptocurrency thanks to Proof of Work which was the point of the whole revolution.

As for the "Altcoin" - it's just a term to describe any other cryptocurrency project made after Bitcoin.

Simple as that.

Bitcoin has always been holding the majority of cryptocurrency market cap, and until that change, I think we will keep referring other crypto outside of Bitcoin as Altcoins. They come in many forms, from Ethereum to memecoins like Dogecoin. Not only does the functionality of altcoins span a wide range, from Ethereum supporting smart contracts to stablecoins pegged to real world assets anchoring their prices to them, but altcoins have generally lower market caps and less widespread adoption compared to Bitcoin. However, they do offer a lot of different functionalities that will further diversify the crypto market. That makes altcoins more than just alternatives to Bitcoin, some good altcoins actually would contribute to developing decentralized applications and finance.

Nice article  Apocollapse. I think I've come across an article similar to this in the past. However saying that bitcoin is the first crypto currency is also very correct but may seem a little vague for someone who really Keens into the contents of that article. Now personally I really never thought bitcoin was the first attempted crypto currency even before I read an article like this back then.

And my reason was simply because in order to create something as secure, sophisticated and complex as bitcoin there must have been a couple of failed attempts in the past even if they weren't publicised.

The idea of calling bitcoin the first crypto currency is because it was the FIRST SUCCESSFUL crypto currency not really because it was the first attempted. Also generally the term altcoins was implemented to other coins so people literally call any coin that isn't Bitcoin and altcoin.

Others like; meme coins,  and shit coins are like sub terms under altcoin. The idea  of altcoins was alternate coins aside the first crypto currency (BITCOIN) which was the cryptographic break through.

I shook my head and smiled when I read your reply. Firstly let's start with this;

Here you are actually contradicting your self by saying it was successful and later failed because If it failed in the first place then it obviously wasn't successful. From you point of view you are literally saying that any coin or project that was launched is a successful project. Take BitConnect (BCC) launched in 2016 like some other coins before bitcoin did, and later became worthless in just a couple of months, would you call that successful?

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Now for this part of your reply;

Before bitcoin, there was no successful coin that made use of cryptography you are also simply contradicting yourself here because both Proof of Work (POW) and Proof of stake (POS) are crypto graphic terms because they are applied in Cryptography. If bitcoin wasn't a breakthrough as the first successful crypto currency then what will you call it?

I'm not contradicting myself; you've just taken what I wrote out of context. I'm not going to argue at such a low level.

/Over&Out

I want to believe that by now, you must have gotten a very understandable answer or explanation to your question since I believe this to be a very easy one for any one who have spent atleast, 6 months on this forum, such even though still a newbie, should already know the difference between bitcoin and Altcoins.

But just incase you are still looking for that perfect answer with all simplicity, let me tell you that cryptocurrencies include both bitcoin and Altcoins..
Bitcoin is a stand alone cryptocurrency and also the very first one of them all.
While Altcoins is a general title that is given to all other cryptocurrencies that was created after Bitcoin - Altcoin in full simply means "Alternative coin" or "Alternative cryptocurrencies", they consist of all the cryptocurrencies that act as alternative to bitcoin.

I hope this is understandable enough, and I wish you good luck in your quest learning about cryptocurrencies, all the best bud.