Litecoin Has Grown By More Than 8,000 Percent In 2017, Thus Outdoing Bitcoin

Litecoin has performed better than Bitcoin this year as far as the percentage increase in price is concerned. The altcoin has risen in price by more than 7000 percent in 2017, with the price going from $3.63 since January this year to a high of $302.

The altcoin’s market cap went up from $177 million to $16.4 billion and its market cap is currently bigger than that of Bitcoin at the start of 2017. This means Litecoin is one of the altcoins that have experienced significant growth over the past 12 months. This growth has contributed to a decrease in Bitcoin’s dominance from more than 80 percent to around 56 percent.

Some analysts believe that the decrease is due to the fact that some users have started to shift to alternative currencies. This could likely be due to the high transaction fees charged for transacting Bitcoin. Most people have started to realize that Litecoin and Ethereum have significantly lower transaction costs which is ideal especially for small transactions. However, Bitcoin is still relied on as one of the best cryptocurrencies to use as a store of value.

Despite the significant growth that Litecoin has demonstrated this year and the fact that it is becoming more popular for transacting, Charlie Lee believes that the altcoin might take as long as five more years for consumers to adopt cryptocurrency in real-world transactions. Lee is the creator of Litecoin and former director of engineering at Coinbase.

“I think we’re still maybe five years away before people actually start using bitcoin and litecoin in real-world use as a currency. I would be happy if Litecoin stays at around $300 by the end of next year,” stated Lee.

The Litecoin founder also pointed out that it was surprising how the altcoin surged so steeply this year. He, however, refused to speculate on whether the price would continue to go up or reverse, arguing that he did not want people to be angry at him if he gave the wrong prediction.

Litecoin is still slated to continue rising in value especially if more users continue to jump on board due to the fact that it offers smaller payments and cheaper transactions. This means its market valuation might continue to rise well into 2018. However, this is just speculation and the future of cryptocurrencies remains uncertain.

Like any other currency, the price of the altcoin might also decrease. This has, in fact, happened before, where the cryptocurrency tanked from $48 to $4. In fact, Lee used this scenario to explain the risk involved in buying cryptocurrency through a tweet. He stated that buying Litecoin is risky and not for the fainthearted who cannot handle such drops. There was speculation that his statement would cause the price of the altcoin to crash but as demonstrated, the price has continued to go up.

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Disclaimer: This article should not be taken as, and is not intended to provide, investment advice. Please conduct your own thorough research before investing in any cryptocurrency.