Will Litecoin ever overtake Bitcoin?
Hello everyone,
Today we will be talking about Litecoin and how it compares with Bitcoin.
If you are unsure what Litecoin is you can check out this article: https://steemit.com/litecoin/@amazingsam/what-is-lite-coin
Before we talk about the advantages and disadvantages of Litecoin, let us look at the recent performance of Litecoin. On the 9th of June 2017, Charlie Lee announced that he will be leaving his role at Coinbase to focus on the development of Litecoin. Shortly after that, the price of Litecoin has risen to $50. Since then, the price of Litecoin has been fluctuating between $35 and $55. Even though Litecoin’s price has been fluctuating quite a bit, it is still considered as one of the more stable cryptocurrencies in the market.
Why is Litecoin better than Bitcoin?
- There is no politics in the Litecoin community
- Litecoin has no current scalability issues
- Litecoin can confirm transactions 4 times faster than Bitcoin
- Charlie Lee (the creator of Litecoin) is involved in Litecoin’s development full time
- Charlie lee has a clear vision of where he wants litecoin to go. Read this article about his vision: https://segwit.org/my-vision-for-segwit-and-lightning-networks-on-litecoin-and-bitcoin-cf95a7ab656b
Why is Litecoin not booming then?
Without a doubt, there are some advantages with Litecoin but most of the current value of crpytocurrencies is based on speculation. If you go to the high streets, the chance of you finding a shop that accepts Bitcoin is pretty slim and not many big names accept Bitcoin as a payment method. As a result, most people buy Bitcoins and Altcoins for investment purposes. Yes, Litecoin can confirm transactions 4 times faster than Bitcoin which means you can buy things 4 times quicker but in the investment point of view, this not a good enough reason to invest into. With Lightning network, transactions can almost be instant and block confirmation times will not be important anymore. Since anything that can go on the Litecoin network can also be put on the Bitcoin network, it is just a matter of time before Bitcoin transactions becomes instant.
Bitcoin has had scalability issues but this can also be a good thing for investors. The price of Bitcoin is being held back by Bitcoin’s scalability issues. With Segwit and Lightning network, all this will be solved and this will likely to increase the value of Bitcoin so there is more growth opportunity for Bitcoin which gives investors an incentive to continue to invest into Bitcoin.
The only real advantage Litecoin has over Bitcoin is the community and the leadership. Satoshi Nakamoto has disappeared since creating Bitcoin and this has left a lot of politics in the Bitcoin community. On the other hand, Litecoin has Charlie Lee who has a clear vision of what he wants Litecoin to achieve. Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem to be enough to attract investors.
Will Litecoin ever take over Bitcoin?
Never say never. It is not impossible for Litecoin to take over Bitcoin even though the chances are a little bit slim. Personally, I am more of a fan of Litecoin but unfortunately, Bitcoin had the first movers advantage and this is hindering Litecoin’s potential.
I still feel that Litecoin has some potential, especially at the current price ( $43.07 according to coinmarketcap.com at the time of this article). With smart contracts, Lightning network and atomic cross-chain trading coming to Litecoin soon, there could be some growth potential. Having said that it is hard to predict how well Litecoin will do in the future as it depends on too many factors.
What are your thoughts about Litecoin? Do you think Litecoin will ever overtake Bitcoin? Share your thoughts below.
