What are the pros and cons of investing in Litecoin (LTC)? Do the advantages of investing in Litecoin outweigh its potential drawbacks? Will LTC become a millionaire-maker? Keep on reading to find out if Litecoin is a worthy investment.
Litecoin might be the missing piece in your portfolio. As one of the first altcoins, it's more well-known than some, but is that enough reason to invest in it?
A ‘lighter’ and faster fork of Bitcoin, will it be able to remain one of the top altcoins in a world that is increasingly focused on DeFi?
Here’s why you might consider investing in LTC, the pros and cons, and what exactly to look for.
Contents
In this guide, we will cover:
Is Litecoin A Good Investment?
Will Litecoin Be A Millionaire Maker?
What Is Litecoin?
Litecoin is one of the most popular altcoins in terms of market cap and one of the most prominent forks of Bitcoin often referred to as the silver to Bitcoin’s gold.
For those who are new to the cryptocurrency sector and blockchain technology, we should mention that hard forks refer to any fundamental changes to a network’s protocol.
Litecoin is also one of the oldest cryptocurrencies, launched just two years after Bitcoin by former Google employee Charlie Lee. To be more precise, Litecoin was created in 2011 to serve as a ‘lighter’ version of Bitcoin, hence its name.
As Litecoin’s website explains:
“Litecoin is a peer-to-peer Internet currency that enables instant, near-zero cost payments to anyone in the world. Litecoin is an open-source, global payment network that is fully decentralized without any central authorities”.
Well, with a four times higher supply and four times faster processing times thanks to an improved hashing algorithm, Litecoin is no doubt an appealing alternative to Bitcoin and a golden opportunity for investors.
Note that ‘LTC’ is the ticker symbol of Litecoin, and it also goes by the symbol Ł.
While Bitcoin is still the most prominent crypto in terms of adoption and market cap, Litecoin is a preferred choice for many savvy investors.
With a market cap of $9.2 billion, LTC has cemented its spot in the crypto market.
Believe it or not, according to bitinfocharts, there are at least 815 Litecoin addresses with more than $1 million in LTC and 133 with more than $10 million, which shows that many big investors have turned to LTC investing.
Keep on reading to learn more about the pros of investing in Litecoin!
Would you consider investing in Litecoin?
Pros of Investing in Litecoin
What are the benefits of investing in Litecoin?
With low block generation times, improved Graphic User Interface (GUI), and impressive trading potential, Litecoin is one of the top 20 cryptos (currently ranking 15th in terms of market cap) for a reason.
That’s right! There are many reasons to invest in Litecoin, so let’s explore the factors that give LTC a competitive edge in the cryptocurrency sector. So, here’s a quick look at the pros of investing in Litecoin.
✅ Litecoin Is An Open-source Network
One of the main advantages of investing in Litecoin is that Litecoin is open-source, which means that everyone can see how it works and changes to the protocol can be made by anyone.
Note that changes are usually implemented to respond to the crypto market and its needs.
Being an open-source system also gives flexibility to Litecoin to implement tech innovations, such as SegWit and the Lightning Network protocol which make transactions faster and more convenient.
✅ Litecoin Is Decentralised:
Just like other cryptocurrencies, Litecoin is a peer-to-peer network and a decentralised alternative to fiat money, which means that users don’t have to rely on third parties, such as central banks or authorities.
Nodes are spread across the globe and the network is open to people from all walks of life. As a result, intermediary fees are eliminated, and the risks of price manipulation are reduced.
✅ Litecoin Is Fast:
Perhaps one of the most important pros of investing in Litecoin is its speed. Compared to Bitcoin, Litecoin is four times faster.
Litecoin processes transactions within a maximum of 2.5 minutes, while Bitcoin takes up to 10 minutes to process payments.
Some claim that faster processing times also makes Litecoin more secure because hackers would have less time to attempt double-spending attacks, for example.
✅ Litecoin Is Scalable:
Another major advantage of Litecoin is its scalability. Litecoin can process 56 transactions per second. In comparison, Bitcoin can handle 7 transactions per second, while currently, Ethereum can process 15 transactions per second.
Read Also: Bitcoin vs Litecoin: Which Crypto Should You Buy
✅ Low Transactions Fees:
Litecoin has relatively low transaction fees, especially when compared to other cryptocurrencies or traditional payment systems. This is a major factor that can make LTC adoption wider and smoother.
✅ Litecoin Has Been Improving Regularly Since It Was Launched:
As stated above, Litecoin is a flexible network that has embraced numerous improvements, such as SegWit and the Lightning Network protocol to make transactions faster and easier.
Interestingly, Litecoin’s creator, Lee, once said:
“Think of it being two highways: Today, Bitcoin is packed full of cars and Litecoin is empty. Even with Bitcoin packed, the cars are not coming to use the Litecoin highway today because it’s not connected and it’s inconvenient (centralized exchanges and slow on-chain transfers) to go across. Lightning Network will build bridges over the highways.”
✅ Litecoin Has An Upper Limit Of Total Coins:
Litecoin has an upper limit of 84 million coins, which is four times bigger than Bitcoin. This means that the risk of inflation is eliminated, while investors will have plenty to invest in.
✅ Straightforward Mining Process:
Just like Bitcoin, Litecoin uses a proof-of-work algorithm to validate transactions and create new coins. But while Bitcoin uses a SHA-256 hashing algorithm, Litecoin uses the more efficient Scrypt.
Compared to Bitcoin, however, Litecoin’s mining algorithm makes mining more energy-efficient and accessible to miners, which is also a major pro in environmental terms.
Read More: How to Mine Litecoin?
✅ Litecoin Has A Trustworthy Developer Team:
Because Litecoin was created by a former Google employee, it brings a sense of reliability that many other cryptos don’t have.
And as stated above, Charlie Lee and his team are regularly working on LTC, implementing wallet improvements, confidential transactions, and partnerships.
To provide an example, Alba is one of the companies that are planning to use Litecoin as a smart contract platform.
As the company announced:
“We went with Litecoin as the second asset class, after bitcoin, for our smart contract investing solution for 3 primary reasons: 1. Commitment to Bitcoin compatibility: core roadmap, p2sh support, lightning support, etc; 2. Slightly better scalability than bitcoin in short term (block size and block times); 3. Mining fees which are primarily a function of #2 although this is more of a short term benefit as mining fees would likely skyrocket if we’re successful anyway”.
✅ Litecoin Is Easy To Trade:
We should note that it’s easy to trade LTC. Many exchanges support Litecoin, with eToro being one of the most reliable platforms that allow investors to buy LTC and trade CFDs of over 90 crypto pairs.
All hardware wallets also support Litecoin and there are atomic swaps between LTC/BTC.
On top of that, because of its lower price in comparison to other top coins - with almost zero transaction fees and lower volatility levels - LTC is an attractive option for beginners looking to invest in the cryptocurrency sector.
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Cons of Investing in Litecoin
Despite its pros, investing in Litecoin has some drawbacks. Investors should be familiar with the cons of investing in Litecoin to make an informed decision and decide for themselves if it is a good idea to invest in LTC.
So, here’s what you should know about the risks of investing in Litecoin.
❌ Litecoin Has Some Branding Issues:
As a fork of Bitcoin, many people think that Litecoin is the same as Bitcoin, which is one of the major cons of investing in LTC.
Furthermore, though Litecoin revolutionised the crypto sector by improving Bitcoin, its uniqueness is kind of declining.
To provide an example, Bitcoin has also embraced the SegWit protocol, chipping away at Litecoin’s advancements and prestige.
Plus, the naming similarities can also be an issue. (It doesn’t help that Google tries to correct ‘Litecoin’ to ‘Bitcoin’!)
❌ Litecoin Has Lost Its Credibility Over Time:
Although Litecoin has a trustworthy developer team, LTC has lost some of its credibility.
To be more precise, Charlie Lee sold his holdings near the all-time high of Litecoin in 2017, which made people question his faith in the coin.
Furthermore, the withdrawal of the defunct LitePay service also caused controversy among crypto enthusiasts.
Here we should note that although the initial announcement of the LitePay service caused a surge in the price of LTC, the LTC team announced:
“We are greatly disheartened that this saga has ended this way and we apologize for not doing enough due diligence that could have uncovered some of these issues earlier. We are currently working hard to tighten our due diligence practices and ensure that this does not happen again”.
❌ Litecoin Is One Of The Most Popular Coins On The Dark Web:
A study published in 2018 announced that Litecoin is the second-most used crypto on the Dark Web, with 30% of underground vendors accepting Litecoin.
This can be a major drawback for big investors and ordinary users, especially since the Silk Road muddied the image of cryptocurrency.
❌ Litecoin Is Not As Interesting As It Used To Be:
Increasingly crypto traders are more drawn to DeFi projects with smart applications and transactional cryptos like Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash are getting left behind.
And this decrease in interest becomes apparent when you look at the charts. Litecoin only just beat its 2017 all-time high in the 2021 bull run.
Meanwhile, much of the rest of the crypto scene was doubling or tripling old records. E.g., Bitcoin reached over $60k - three times its previous all-time high in 2017.
And so, we might assume that over time Litecoin may struggle in the next bull run to pick up the pace.
This is further supported by a stagnating number of active wallets. While there has been some increase in active wallet numbers, it’s not that significant if you compare it to the likes of Bitcoin.
Active Bitcoin and Litecoin addresses. Source: bitinfocharts.com
❌ Litecoin Mining Profitability Has Plummeted:
Miners are losing interest in Litecoin at a rapid pace. In comparison to several years ago, mining Litecoin is nowhere near as profitable as it used to be.
As one of the oldest cryptos with one of the longest chains, mining difficulty has increased, and profits have decreased. In other words, miners need to work harder for less LTC.
And the third factor is that there is a lack of demand for Litecoin, which means creating new coins is less profitable.
Litecoin mining profitability. Source: statista.com
While Litecoin could outlast Bitcoin because of its larger supply, BTC has far more interest.
And what makes this worse is that if miners lose interest, there will be no one to secure the network, which could leave it open to attack.
❌ Proof-of-work Cryptocurrencies Will Eventually Die Out:
After Tesla dropped Bitcoin as a payment method in May 2021, it effectively put the brakes on the crypto bull run and shamed Bitcoin for its excessive energy consumption.
Litecoin, just like Bitcoin, uses a proof-of-work mechanism to validate transactions and create new coins.
And so, for many businesses, particularly those that want to appear environmentally friendly, Litecoin could also be off the table as a payment method.
That said, things might change in the future. In August 2020, it was announced on Globe Newswire the creation of Litecoin proof-of-stake, also known as LitecoinPoS (LTCP).
For the time being, it looks like both the proof-of-work and proof-of-stake versions will co-exist.
❌ Litecoin Is Still A Highly Risky Investment:
Macroaxis considers Litecoin a ‘Strong Sell’, highlighting that it’s ‘unreasonably risky’ and that it ‘hyperactively responds to market trends’ (most likely changes in Bitcoin’s price).
Granted, the crypto market as a whole is usually regarded as too risky by many. But in Litecoin’s case, that risk might be too high for too little reward.
❌ Litecoin Is Controlled By The Few:
The top 100 Litecoin addresses own 42.84% of all Litecoin, according to bitinfocharts, that’s almost half of all LTC in circulation and some would say is a little intimidating.
Especially so when you remember that there is a total of 4,274,384 (active and non-active) Litecoin addresses, according to Blockchair.
If those top one hundred addresses just decided to pull out of Litecoin, it would plummet at an extraordinary rate.
❌ Litecoin Upgrades Often Feel Like Patches:
Whenever a new feature is added to Litecoin, it is often not built into Litecoin, but something added by a third-party - a kind of add-on.
Take smart contracts for example. Several companies and organisations are attempting to build them for Litecoin - but not the Litecoin core team themselves.
Then there is the Lightning Network which speeds up transactions by settling them off-chain and the MimbleWimble protocol which improves privacy. These features come from elsewhere.
It’s like downloading an app on your phone to improve its performance instead of Android or Apple upgrading it themselves.
This all raises questions on how Litecoin can keep up with the rest of the market.
Check Out: Is Litecoin (LTC) A Good Buy?
Is Litecoin a Good Investment?
Before you invest in LTC, do not forget that it all comes down to the risk-reward factor. So, knowing the pros and cons of investing in Litecoin, it’s time to answer another question “do potential rewards outweigh risks?”
Litecoin certainly has some risk factors; Charlie Lee sold his holdings in 2017, many people still associate LTC with BTC, and Litecoin is becoming more obsolete in terms of technology when compared to Ethereum and other blockchain projects.
But at the same time, Litecoin is one of the oldest cryptocurrencies and it has proven time and time again that it is one of the most desired assets among crypto investors.
Plus, the current price of LTC acts as a low barrier of entry for crypto newcomers and also as a great way to diversify one’s portfolio, which may facilitate its adoption worldwide.
So, if you are willing to invest the time and energy and do your research, Litecoin investing could work for you too.
Just remember an important trading rule: one should never invest more than they can afford to lose. Always invest in risk management and listen to the big fish who suggest avoiding risking more than 1% of your account on a single trade.
Put simply, Litecoin is a great investment opportunity with lots of potential rewards. But it’s still something you should do some research on before you consider adding LTC to your portfolio.
Will Litecoin Be A Millionaire Maker?
Yes, Litecoin can be a millionaire-maker and in a sense, it already is with its market cap of $9.2 billion.
The value of LTC - trading at $180 - is likely to increase further, as usually, crypto scarcity tends to promote growth in prices. Let’s not forget that Litecoin has a limited supply of 84 million coins.
LTC’s demand is expected to increase over time as it improves while at the same time the introduction of new coins will slowly dissipate with the last LTC expected to be mined by 2142.
What Will Litecoin Be Worth In 2025?
| Price Forecaster | Lowest Price | Highest Price |
|---|---|---|
| WalletInvestor | $301.014 | $570.459 |
| Gov Capital | $630.842 | $891.700 |
| DigitalCoin | $242.31 | $325.81 |
| Coin Price Forecast | $266 | $296 |
What Will Litecoin Be Worth In 2030?
| Price Forecaster | Lowest Price | Highest Price |
|---|---|---|
| Coin Price Forecast | $517 | $543 |
| Cryptocurrency Price Prediction | $3,172 | $3,965 |
How High Will Litecoin Go?
No one can say for sure how high Litecoin could go, though Cryptocurrency Price Prediction suggests that it could reach $3,965 by December 2030, which would be a gigantic improvement.
Some experts believe that what we are seeing now is a mid-cycle trend, which is essentially a pause before the bull run continues.
So, with that in mind, we could see Litecoin get close to its all-time high again soon or even shoot past it.
Of course, price predictions remain speculative, depending on different factors, such as demand and supply principles, technology advancements in the crypto space, and market sentiment.
Please remember that Litecoin (LTC) and any other crypto include some risk!
Read Also: Will Litecoin Make Me Rich in 10 Years?
Where To Buy Litecoin? eToro – Best Platform to Buy Litecoin
eToro have proven themselves trustworthy within the crypto industry over many years – we recommend you try them out.
Virtual currencies are highly volatile. Your capital is at risk.
How To Buy Litecoin?
You can buy Litecoin in four simple steps with eToro or any other top-rated broker or crypto exchange. Here’s how you’d do it:
Step 1. Go to the eToro website and click ‘Join Now’ and then fill out the registration form.
Step 2. Upload some proof of address and identity. This is to prevent fraud and to comply with anti-money laundering laws.
Step 3. Make a deposit to buy LTC. The minimum deposit is $50 in the USA, $200 in most other countries, but do check before (there are several countries where it’s much higher!).
Step 4. Buy Litecoin. Go to ‘Trade Markets’ → ‘Crypto’ → ‘LTC Litecoin’. And then choose your terms.
And you’re done! Now you have Litecoin!
Key Points
If you remember anything from Pros And Cons Of Investing In Litecoin, Will It Be A Millionaire Maker, make it these key points.
- Litecoin is one of the most popular forks of Bitcoin. It was created in 2011, just two years after the launch of BTC.
- LTC has numerous pros over Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Including better scalability, fast processing times, a novel mining algorithm, and low transaction fees.
- Investing in LTC, however, comes with several cons. Such as branding issues and high use on the dark web.
- Big changes are coming to Litecoin. We could see it become a proof-of-stake smart contract platform with enhanced privacy.
If you decide to invest in LTC, do not forget that crypto investing can be risky, so analyse the risk-reward profile of Litecoin and do your research before you get started.
If you enjoyed reading our article Pros and Cons of Investing in Litecoin, Will It Be a Millionaire Maker please share it with anyone interested in cryptocurrency investing.
FAQs
Still have questions about investing in Litecoin? Perhaps these frequently asked questions will help.
How Many Litoshi Makes One Litecoin?
100 million Litoshi makes one Litecoin. The smallest denomination of Litecoin is 0.00000001, which is 1 Litoshi.
Litecoin has the same number of decimal places as Bitcoin and several other cryptocurrencies, which makes it suitable for micropayments.
How Do I Mine Litecoin?
There are three ways in which you can get involved in Litecoin mining, according to finder - solo mining (mining by yourself), joining a mining pool or cloud mining.
Before you start mining, you’ll have to decide which method will work best for you by accessing which is the most profitable and least risky - financially speaking.
Whichever method you choose, you’ll need a Litecoin wallet to store your newly minted LTC. And if you decide to mine yourself or with a pool, you’ll need to get the right hardware and software beforehand.
When it comes to cloud mining, which is a relatively new area, you need to be cautious of scams.
It’s also worth noting that some of the top Bitcoin miners also mine Litecoin.
Who Accepts Litecoin?
According to NOWPayments, the top companies that accept Litecoin payments are:
- Travala
- eGifter
- RE/MAX
- Sheetz
- UnlockBase
- Snel
- CryptoGames
- G2A.com
- 1xBit
- HostMeNow
- Crypto-Keys
Note that while there are still many services that don’t accept Litecoin, there is often a way around this using another service.
For example, neither Amazon nor Steam accepts payments in Litecoin, but through services like eGifter, you can buy gift cards for their services with LTC.
Also, a growing number of exchanges and payment providers are introducing Visa debit cards for crypto holders, and Litecoin is accepted by many of these services.
They’re quite simple to understand. When making a payment, they convert your LTC into fiat cash and pay the merchant in their local currency.
There is even the Litecoin Card which is specially designed for Litecoin. Currently, it is only available in the USA but will also come to 31 countries in Europe soon.
How Long Does A Litecoin Transaction Take?
It is widely accepted that Litecoin transactions take between a few seconds to a minute to be completed. This is because Litecoin blocks are mined 2.5 minutes apart, so theoretically, it should not take more than 2.5 minutes.
Remember, as Litecoin becomes more popular and is used more frequently, this may change. It will likely take longer unless solutions are found to speed up the process.
Where To Store Litecoin?
You should store your Litecoin in a wallet and according to finder, the best wallets to store Litecoin include:
- Ledger Nano X Wallet (hardware wallet)
- Atomic Wallet (desktop wallet)
- Ledger Nano S Wallet (hardware wallet)
- TREZOR One Wallet (hardware wallet)
- Sugi Wallet (hardware wallet)
- TREZOR Model T Wallet (hardware wallet)
- Coinbase Wallet (mobile wallet, desktop wallet)
- KeepKey Wallet (hardware wallet)
- Jaxx Liberty Wallet (mobile, desktop, web browser wallet)
- Exodus Wallet (mobile, hardware, desktop wallet)
It’s wise to make sure you have at least two wallets. For the utmost security, have a hardware wallet to store your crypto offline when you don’t intend to use it.
And when you want to spend or trade your crypto, transfer it to a ‘hot’ wallet, which is any wallet that is connected to the internet.
Many hot wallets have been hacked in the past, so it would be wise to only put crypto in a hot wallet when you need to make a transaction. Don’t leave it there! (This is how many crypto exchanges get hacked - they store crypto in a hot wallet.)
What Is A ‘Litecoin Halving’?
A Litecoin halving (or halvening), as explained by litecoinblockhalf.com, is:
“After every 840,000 blocks are mined (approximately every 4 years), the block reward halves and will keep on halving until the block reward per block becomes 0 (approximately by year 2142). As of now, the block reward is 12.5 coins per block and will decrease to 6.25 coins per block post halving”.
Bitcoin and several other forks of Bitcoin also go through a halving, and it is a terrific way to trade Litecoin because it means the supply is getting smaller, increasing the value of LTC.
To profit from a halving, you would need to buy up LTC before the event and hold it until after it passes when the price of Litecoin rises significantly.
It typically doesn’t happen immediately. Usually, it takes roughly six months to a year, so you need to be patient.
Is Litecoin Better Than Bitcoin?
Technologically, yes Litecoin is better, but in terms of popularity and value, Litecoin cannot compete with Bitcoin.
Litecoin has several advantages that make it a lot faster than Bitcoin which makes it more convenient to use, but without the interest that Bitcoin has, it will never take off at the same level.
Many Bitcoin users buy up Bitcoin because it is the most valuable crypto. They likely don’t plan on using it for anything, only planning to hold it as the price appreciates. So, they likely don’t care if it takes 2 minutes or 10 minutes for transactions to be fulfilled.
Why Should I Buy Litecoin?
Litecoin can act as a hedge against Bitcoin and other transactional cryptos such as Bitcoin Cash and Dash.
While it may not be as popular as it once was, it is still early days, and we shouldn’t jump the gun to judge LTC. Besides, Litecoin is still being worked on and they will continue to add more features.
And there are ways to make money from Litecoin, such as the next halving which will take place in August 2023. Plus, LTC follows the price of Bitcoin too and upgrades like MimbleWimble could increase prices in 2021.
Owning a sensible portion of LTC could pay off in the next bull run.
What Is Charlie Lee’s Net Worth?
There is no clear answer online though a couple of sites claim (likely owned by the same entity) that Charlie Lee has a net worth of $20 billion, but Cryptogeek disputes this and notes that they do not have a source.
Cryptogeek also notes that Lee doesn’t talk much about his private life, especially not his finances.
What is known is that in 2013, Lee sold most of his Litecoin before taking up a job at Coinbase citing he wanted to avoid a conflict of interest. And so, we can assume that a good chunk of his net worth comes from this period.
But what complicates this is that we don’t know exactly when he sold his LTC, and it is very unlikely that he sold it all in one go (more likely he sold it in parts).
It’s also not clear how much Lee would have made working at Coinbase, but it’s also not very likely it would have made him a billionaire (but a millionaire at the least).
Does Litecoin Have Smart Contracts?
Litecoin is in the process of enabling smart contracts on its blockchain via two projects Wanchain and the Flare network.
According to Christopher Fowler of Tech Bullion, Wanchain, a crypto that allows cross-chain transactions, will include Litecoin in its network, which will effectively enable LTC smart contracts.
Similarly, according to Mike Dalton of Crypto Briefing, the Flare network is also working towards enabling smart contracts on Litecoin, which they claim will be on par with Ethereum.
So, wait a little while and perhaps by the end of the year, we could see fully functioning smart contracts on Litecoin.