Litecoin has been in the list of top-10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalisation pretty much since it began trading in the spring of 2013. Created by Charlie Lee – then a Google software engineer – it set out to improve upon the original crypto, Bitcoin.
By tweaking Bitcoin’s open-source code, Mr. Lee was able to launch Litecoin, a crypto that was much like its big brother but lighter in computational power – which is why it has its name – and much speedier in terms of transactions.
Mr. Lee’s Twitter handle is @SatoshiLite – an obvious reference to Satoshi Nakamoto, the mysterious Bitcoin founder, or founders – and on the micro-blogging site he expressed his concerns. “Bitcoin is a great store of value,” he wrote. “I’m fine spending ~$1 fee per transaction, but I can’t stand waiting 40+ minutes for a confirmation!”
He went on to be appointed the director of engineering at Coinbase, an online platform for buying, selling, and storing digital currency. In that position, he promoted Bitcoin and helped the crypto gain acceptance from a number of global organisations, such as Tesla, Wikipedia, Virgin Galactic, and a raft of others.
Mr. Lee was aware that Litecoin’s success in the market would be linked to Bitcoin’s popularity, as it is a derivative of the founding crypto. Some in the community call Bitcoin “gold 2.0”, which feasibly makes Litecoin “digital silver”. The infrastructure of Litecoin is much like Bitcoin’s, yet it has near-zero transaction fees, and it is considerably quicker to actually make a transaction.
It didn’t take Litecoin long to achieve a market capitalisation of $1 billion, soon after it was launched in April 2013. Four years later Mr. Lee established the Litecoin Foundation. It was a clever evolution, as he hired a development team, meaning protocol changes for new functions and scalability were possible without requiring disruptive hard forks.
Litecoin is appealing to investors who are happy to hold, as it has the potential to grow in value considerably in the coming years, many analysts believe. Since it added “Segregated Witness” (SegWit), the process by which the block size limit on a blockchain is increased by removing signature data from Bitcoin transactions, it has become even more attractive. Additionally, it will soon join the Lightning Network – a system that allows transacting and settling, off-blockchain – making it “future ready” in the eyes of Mr. Lee and many others.
The crypto peaked in value at $341 on December 18, 2017 according to global trading and investment platform eToro. “Litecoin’s long-term trend indicates future price might climb up to over $5,000,” believes Michael Serrano, an analyst at Wiki Crypto.
eToro, which specialises in cryptocurrency trading and has an online community of over eight million people, has produced a short educational video about Litecoin to help prospective investors:
After all, the motto at eToro, which offers a raft of other top cryptos to trade or buy outright, is: “Cryptos Needn’t Be Cryptic.”
Pros and cons of trading on eToro
Pros
- Straightforward, user-friendly, trustworthy and experienced platform
- Instant execution of trades, thereby locking in a price
- Ability to use CopyTrader and other innovative tools
- Huge cryptocurrency community that shares knowledge and helps each other
- Fast execution
- Regulated company
Cons
- Only 10 cryptocurrencies offered by the platform, currently
- Users are unable to withdraw the cryptocurrencies directly
- Users’ cryptocurrencies are held by eToro
Trading Litecoin is straightforward on eToro
Step 1: Go to www.etoro.com and press ‘Join Now’ to register
Step 2: Once you have signed up, search for ‘Litecoin’
Step 3: Click on ‘Litecoin’ and press ‘Trade’
Step 4: Choose either the amount or units to trade (by toggling the icon on the right-hand side) and press ‘Deposit Now’ to open a trade
Want to learn more about trading Litecoin and other cryptos? Visit www.eToro.com now, and join the online global community.
Cryptocurrencies can widely fluctuate in prices and are not appropriate for all investors. Trading cryptocurrencies is not supervised by any EU regulatory framework. Your capital is at risk.