Litecoin [1] is one of the largest alternative crypto-currencies and was one of the first alt-coins. It is based upon the same source code as Bitcoin with some minor alterations. The idea behind light coin was to make a light weight, easily spendable version of Bitcoin used for low value transactions (coffee, shopping etc.). Litecoin largely grew in popularity due to its fair launch process, allowing the community to own a large and distributed share of the pie.
Charlie Lee, the creator of Litecoin often says that Litecoin is Silver to Bitcoins Gold. I can really see this analogy to be fairly accurate. However, regarding fundamental value, the author believes Litecoin to be a more valuable currency than silver with value of a quarter of Gold, given the numbers that Litecoin was created with. The author speculates that Litecoin is somewhat of a hybrid between currency and a quarter Gold.
Given the market capitalization of global fiat currencies is approximately $5 Trillion and the Gold market is around $7 Trillion [2]. It seems perfectly feasible that Litecoin could attain 2.5% of this asset pool, which would equate to a market cap of around $0.3 Trillion. If this were to be achieved, the value of 1 LTC would equal.... 0.3 Trillion / 84 Million = Roughly $3500.
Conclusion:
Litecoin is a crypto-currency with real intrinsic value and a strong track record. 10% of a diversified portfolio is a reasonable balance to aim for.
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