Litecoin vs Bitcoin: Could Bitcoin be outshined by Litecoin soon?

When we talk about cryptocurrencies, it is impossible not to mention the leader in this matter, Bitcoin. Nonetheless, this number one position may be at risk due to a whopping increase in the price of Litecoin.

Although Litecoin is not as consolidated as Bitcoin, this crypto is actually on its way to the top of the list. Let’s recall that Litecoin was founded in 2011, only two years after the well-known Bitcoin was released, but despite this, it currently ranked as the fifth cryptocurrency in value.

During the last year Litecoin has increased its value in a remarkable number of 4119.82 percent, and if we compare that to Bitcoin, it appears as small with only 13.4 percent the last year.

One of the reasons why this cryptocurrency is emerging is because of its simplicity; users find it very practical and easy to use. In fact, the Winklevoss twins recently stated they are considering Litecoin as a new possible allied for a market exchange; and if everything works out well, they would be adding the cryptocurrency to their platform during this year.

At the very moment only Ethereum and Bitcoin are offered on the platform of the Winklevoss brothers, Gemini Exchange, but as one of them said: “…potential tokens for expansion are from the Satoshi Nakamoto family tree – bitcoin, Litecoin”.

Why Litecoin’s popularity?

As all the cryptocurrencies, Litecoin was designed to be decentralized and with the hope of being a faster and more simplified currency; and in this matter, Litecoin is achieving its goal.

The primary key is the time variable; while Bitcoin creates a block of information with data encrypted in about 10 minutes, Litecoin does it in 2 and half minutes; this represents an operation speed of four times faster.

Consequently transaction fees are much lower, and of course, the whole operation process is simpler. Furthermore, the benefits of this cryptocurrency are under the spotlight of multinational companies such as Starbucks and Amazon, who are actually thinking of adopting Litecoin on their sites this year.

Could Litecoin price topple bitcoin?

Litecoin showed a remarkable growth in last year when it passed from having a price of $4.05 to $175.26. On the other hand, Bitcoin has been struggling to stay above $9,000 after dipping below the crucial pricing marker on many occasions lately.

However, neither of them (Bitcoin or Litecoin) are exempt from falling upon the market pressures. Regarding this matter Charlie Lee, who is a former Google employee, stated the market, in general, is very volatile:

“I expect us to have a multi-year bear market like the one we just had where LTC dropped 90% in value ($48 to $4). So if you can’t handle LTC dropping to $20, don’t buy!”

He later explained that he wasn’t asseverating the market was going to drop, but he thinks this is something to be considered since the cryptocurrency market has proved to be a constantly changing one.

Why is the crypto market so volatile?

The uncertainty of crypto-market gets attributed to a lack of supervision, regulation, potential hacking and a sell-off of tokens from the Tokyo Whale.

Subsequently, a crackdown on the crypto-assets is expected for better and more consolidated monitoring, and international standard-setting as the G20 financial leaders reportedly are going to push for that in annual summit being held in Buenos Aires on March 20. And in case of regulations, all the cryptocurrencies probably will be affected (at least at some extent for a while) but as Bitcoin is the big brother of them all; it might get to bear the brunt of the traders and short sellers more.

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Disclaimer: This article should not be taken as, and is not intended to provide, investment advice. Global Coin Report and/or its affiliates, employees, writers, and subcontractors are cryptocurrency investors and from time to time may or may not have holdings in some of the coins or tokens they cover. Please conduct your own thorough research before investing in any cryptocurrency and read our full disclaimer.

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