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Saddam once had Iraq's banknotes printed in the UK. They were called Iraqi Swiss Dinars because their printing plates were said to be designed in Switzerland. When relations soured with the West, Iraq was forced to print their own banknotes. These new notes were of far inferior
quality to the ones printed in the UK. The autonomous Kurds, who were nominally part of Iraq, preferred Iraqi Swiss Dinars and refused to accept the new notes. They continued to use the old notes, which had Saddam's face on them, even long AFTER Saddam was ousted.
Let this sink in for a moment. The Kurds regarded an officially defunct fiat currency as valuable even when it's not backed by a central government. In fact, Iraqi Swiss Dinars became even more valuable as it became rarer as old notes went missing or hopeless worn out.
I think the story of the Iraqi Swiss Dinar explains why Bitcoin is still king despite there being many other altcoins that are technically superior to it in every way. Bitcoin is valuable simply because it has more people thinking it's valuable.
