What is Litecoin?
Dubbed “the cryptocurrency for payments,” Litecoin is a virtual currency that seeks to facilitate payments over the internet. Forked from the bitcoin blockchain in the year 2011, Litecoin was born to enable instant payments, something that Bitcoin was unable to do due to its slow transaction confirmation times.
Charlie Lee developed Litecoin in 2011 as a lightweight alternative for Bitcoin. His vision was to create an altcoin with lightning transaction speeds and one favorable for miners. Lee, an ex-Google engineer, announced the launch of the coin via the Bitcoin Forum. He and other developers claimed their main intention was to build the Silver for Bitcoin. Both BTC and LTC coins share the underlying concept of Proof of Work.
Note: The proof of work ecosystem means that a digital coin is mined for creation, authentication, and verification. Upon which the coin is added into a blockchain or a decentralized public ledger.
Both Litecoin and Bitcoin share a few similarities. These include how the coin is created, stored, and mined. All the processes are similar but differ on the grounds of efficiency. Litecoin was created from a soft fork; rather than a hardfork. So what’s the difference between a hardfork and a soft fork?
A hardfork is a complete transformation of a blockchain’s protocols and rules, which terms old rules as invalid and unworthy. A soft fork is an upgrade of old protocols with new protocols that makes software robust and backward compatible.
Benefits of Litecoin
- Solve scalability – Charlie Lee and his team of developers thought BTC would face long-term performance problems if its blockchain technology would grow in traffic. And as a result, introduce a plague of scalability issues, bottlenecks, and increased network fees. Litecoin is focused on delivering a highly sophisticated and scalable blockchain.
- Boost performance speed – Litecoin is designed to be lightweight and fast. Its development was a challenge to Bitcoin’s block size and the 10 minute block confirmation time. The developers wanted to change how performance is affected by scalability, and solve such problems
- Relatively low transaction fees – we’ve seen the scalability issues affect both Bitcoin and Ethereum. Lately, both blockchains have been bleeding users as a result of high transaction fees. The high fees result from network congestion caused by increasing traffic. One of Litecoin’s core vision was to introduce lightning-fast transactions that were also cheap. The cost of transactions on the Litecoin network depends on block size as well as the size of the transaction.
- Confidential transaction to boost network privacy – Litecoin’s developers are betting on building core privacy features to strengthen anonymity. The developers are planning to implement MimbleWimble to create single-chain transactions that are entirely obfuscated from third parties.
- Cross-industry integration – Litecoin aims to increase the adoption of its network and native coin through the open software concept. The blockchain has already been implemented by various merchants, accepting the currency for payment, gambling, or art.
How to mine Litecoin?
There are two ways you can mine Litecoin and join the league of ltc holders in the world. Solo mining and pool mining. Solo mining involves a person purchasing all mining hardware and mining cryptocurrencies on their own. Pool mining consists of joining a team of miners who share resources and equipment and split block rewards among themselves. Each one’s share depends on the amount of computing power each provides. The number of times you will win block rewards while solo mining is significantly reduced. But once you get the reward, you don’t have to share it with anyone. Solo mining is also expensive to undertake given the high costs of equipment and electricity. On the other hand, you will have to pay fees before joining a mining pool. With a mining pool, the chances of winning a reward are pretty high.
So how do you mine Litecoin?
- Purchase mining equipment – Purchase ASIC mining hardware for litecoin. In the past, Litecoin mining did not demand much power, and people using average CPUs/GPUs had chances of winning block rewards. But with increasing network transactions and miners, the stakes rose. One has to purchase Application Specific Integrated Circuit hardware now. The best-dedicated mining hardware for LTC is the Antminer L3+. It is fast, strong, solid, and built by the renowned mining equipment manufacturer, BitMain. You can also find cheaper options on the website.
- Mining software – Antminer L3+ comes with an installation file. Therefore visit Bitmain’s official website after purchasing the hardware and create your profile. Hit a button labeled IP reporter on the hardware controller for at least 5 seconds. The machine will beep and then release it. Your IP address will show up, and you need to enter this address on the Bitmain Website. Finally, enter your Litecoin wallet address, and you’re good to go.
Furthermore, click general settings on the BitMain account when you want to join a pool. Enter the URL of your preferred mining pool, your password, and your worker ID.
It’s all done.
Litecoin Technical Analysis, Future Price and Price History (2013-2020)
Let’s go down in history and look at what entails the history of the coin, in order to make a reasonable litecoin price forecast.
2013 – 2016
Litecoin was trading at a day price of $4.34 against the USD on its launch date. The price change was a downward correction towards $1.50 and remained within that price level until the wake of the initial bitcoin bull run. More and more people began to join the cryptocurrency market. The price of Litecoin, and other altcoins followed in the bull run and spiked upwards. In 2014, Litecoin managed to hit a market price of $44 per piece. Their stay above $40 was short-lived, and the coin came crashing downwards by 50% to $20 within a month. Throughout the remaining part of 2014, the coin crushed further and began trading within the single dollar range.
The coin created a lower bottom at $1.28 and then corrected to $4. A price range that it traded until Q1 of 2017.
2017 and the Bull Cycle
There was newfound energy all around the cryptocurrency market at the beginning of 2017. Significant Price surges, and BTC hit an all-time high of $20,000. Litecoin, on the other hand, started from $4 and skyrocketed to $375 by the end of 2017. During the bull market, the key driving factors for crypto markets were injections by retail investors and congestion of newbies driven by FOMO. The price surges were spectacular. And most ltc price prediction analysis were indicating all green.
In December of that year, Charlie Lee Twitter his decision to leave Litecoin. He said he would continue making network improvements and that his exit would not affect the market. In the tweet, he explained he need not tie Litecoin to financial success. From hence, LTC was going to survive on its own.
2018 – 2020
The bull run began to fade through the start of 2018. It wasn’t a good year for Litecoin, BTC, or other altcoins. The cryptocurrency platform became saturated with hacks, then ICO scams, and Litecoin dipped below $200 and then hit $74 by the end of June.
In December, Litecoin declined further and hit $23. After which, it ushered 2019 with a gradual uptrend that lasted until mid-July where LTC was trading at $141. The first half of 2019 saw a positive bullish performance for Litecoin. But heading into the third and fourth quarter, the altcoin slumped into a descending channel that formed lows between $35 – $42.
Finalizing 2019, Litecoin began an upward trend between October and November. This uptrend hit $59 by the 1st of 2020.
In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the cryptocurrency market was trading sideways, and there were heavy plummets across all coins. Litecoin traded below $70 for the better part of 2020 since March, until around December where it ended at a maximum price of $136.
2021 and Beyond
2021 kicked off with a bull run. BTC hit an all-time high of $61,000 within the first three months. Other coins reacted in sync with the bull run and went on to set all-time highs. While Litecoin did not break its current all-time high that it’d set in 2017, the coin broke out of a bearish zone and traded to a 2-year high of $236. A price prediction is also heavily reliant on the direction of market capitalization. Let’s have a look at the number of daily addresses on the Litecoin blockchain and set the bearing of our price forecast. The recent surge can be attributed to a number of factors, major among them, the growing interest of institutional investors
So far, the number of Litecoin addresses has grown by a 6X rate since 2020. According to Coinmarketcap, the daily number of created Litecoin addresses has reached 100,000. These number might keep growing in future due to the cheap transaction fees of the network. Also the numbers indicate the likelihood of a growing trading volume.
(Source: Glassnode)
Let’s also have a look at Litecoin predictions, especially the most popular ones.
Litecoin Price Prediction – Crypto’s verdict on Litecoin price prediction
What to Expect From Litecoin’s Price in 2021?
Litecoin price prediction 2021
The LTC/USD pair is currently priced at $188. This means the digital coin has skyrocketed by 51% from its early start. Let’s look at Litecoin’s future outlook and how the asset price might change.
Litecoin could retreat to lower supports and create a long-term downswing. This is not a good thing, but the bulls believe it’s an excellent opportunity to buy the dips. And when the coin resumes its upward trend, it can project for higher gains. According to Capital.com LTC prediction, it will hit a price range between $270 – $312 by September 2021 and test support near the end of December.
Coin Price Forecasts, published a litecoin price prediction (alongside another bitcoin price prediction) with a more bullish trend forecast indicating Litecoin could trade at $363 by the fourth quarter of 2021.
Litecoin Market capitalizations
Litecoin will be huge by summer as the value of the dollar goes down and PayPal and other large institutions adopt Litecoin as the infrastructure for payment processing/transactions. The dollar is going to the trash. Stores won’t accept cash, soon banks won’t either. Your bank balance will be based off of crypto in the back-end while it will say it’s in USD. A lot of noise here.
As we go to press, Litecoin is moving into these main supports established and initially bounced a little within. Now these levels are very important to hold and if they hold, will determine the further destiny of Litecoin. In this case when Litecoin manages to hold the supports and stabilize above to build up with bullishness further stabilizations with the proper continuations can be expected above the descending-resistance-line marked in my chart in black, when Litecoin manages to approach above this line it will close in the bullish-stabilization-zone and continue with further bullishness.
Litecoin Prediction 2022
Coin Price Forecasts also predicted Litecoin value will attain a price of $700 by the first half of 2022. The forecast claims that Litecoin will close the year 2022 at $736 and have a percentage gain of 293% from the current price.
The Trading Beasts wrote on their ltc/usd predictions that the coin would slowly peak in 2021 and then hit $260 by January 2022. The averaged price annually for the year 2022 will be between $150 – $250. This price level would dip gradually and test lower levels around $100 by the end of Q3 2022.
Litecoin Price Prediction 2023
Previsioni Bitcoin‘s prediction says Litecoin’s price will double between 1st January and Late May in 2022.
This will have the price hit $793 from $370. However, the upward trendline won’t stop there, and the coin will undergo an upswing to $819 by August of 2022, dip slightly to $529 and then close the year at $661.
This price range will open 2023 with a bullish trendline and trade between $600 – $1000. The Litecoin halving event will also take place in August 2023. Massive buyer action in the crypto market is likely to come ahead of the halving event and eventually drive the price of Litecoin (LTC) upwards.
However, most forecasts seemed against this idea and are projecting low price levels. Trading beasts anticipate a target of $257, CryptoGround aims for $178 value, while Long Forecast aims for a minimum price of $42 ltc and an expected maximum price of $150.
Litecoin Price Prediction 2025
Crypto Research Report prediction says Litecoin price will be trading at $3,500 in 2025. This is a long-term projection, and it shows LTC has enormous potential to perform well in the coming days. The report also indicates ltc price will achieve a mean of $6,500 this year. There are several bullish forecasts, namely LongForecasts indicating a target of $1,230 and Cryptoground, which indicates LTC will trade $2990.
Financial Experts, a platform that specializes in investment advice, has the highest litecoin forecast expectations, where they believe Ltc price will reach $10,000 by February 2025.
Factors That Could Affect the Price of Litecoin
- Litecoin Futures- Litecoin is still performing below its 2017 bull cycle high of $420. Despite this performance, Litecoin (LTC) futures are still hitting record numbers above $584 million. As a result, Litecoin has become the 7th largest altcoin by market capitalization. Coinmarketcap also ranks the coin as the third-largest in derivatives; after both BTC and Ethereum cryptocurrencies.
- FOMO craze – the craze of missing out on cryptocurrency profits will drive insane numbers of people to purchase altcoins and HODL them. Hopeful the price will rise. Most of these buyers are newbies without much cryptocurrency skills. Such buyers will bring about a lot of energy into the market and, as a result, drive the price of digital assets upwards. More sellers indicate a bearish trend while more buyers are bullish. FOMO brings in more buyers.
- Privacy upgrades – Litecoin is planning to compete on the same level as privacy coins such as Zcash and Monero. The developers hope to boost on-chain security and privacy of funds, which will make it challenging to track down transactions. This could bring in more people into Litecoin and therefore drive the price upwards. And therefore pave the way for confidential transactions on the network.
- Smart contracts – Litecoin is working in partnership with Flare Networks to introduce ethereum like smart contracts. An implementation that will give the Litecoin network interoperability and composability. This will place the coin in good shape to compete with ethereum price.
Where and How can I Buy Litecoin LTC?
The first step is signing up on a cryptocurrency exchange. There are three types of cryptocurrencies exchanges, major exchanges, decentralized exchanges, and peer-to-peer exchanges.
So many trading exchanges exist in the crypto market. Examples of major exchanges are Binance, Coinbase, Kraken, among others. These exchanges allow you to purchase cryptocurrencies using either fiat or other cryptocurrencies. Common payment methods include PayPal, debit/credit cards e.t.c. Sign up at either of these and purchase your first Litecoin (s).
Decentralized exchanges allow users to purchase and trade digital tokens. We wouldn’t recommend a DEX when buying Litecoin.
You can trade digital coins with other traders within the platform on Peer Peer cryptocurrency exchanges using respective local payment methods. An excellent P2P exchange that supports Litecoin is LocalCrypto.com. The platform and like most P2P exchanges, supports only a few types of coins. Local crypto supports Litecoin, Dash, BTC, and Ethereum. You can exchange your coins with other platform users such as BCH, BTC, ETH or xrp holders.
FAQs on Litecoin Price Prediction
Is Litecoin better than Bitcoin?
Litecoin has better technology than Bitcoin. Litecoin’s blockchain is 4X faster than Bitcoin’s. BTC takes an average minimum of 10 minutes to verify a block of transactions fully. Litecoin takes 2.5 minutes. The mining process of Litecoin is simpler than BTC. This is because the former uses the Scrypt algorithm, which is considered less complicated than Bitcoin’s SHA-256.
Will the price of Litecoin go up?
The price of Litegoin (LTC) will go up. As the market capitalization and volume of the coins keeps rising, the cost of Litecoin will also keep increasing. Most litecoin forecast indicate the price will rise. And a per now, the price movement of the coin indicates a bullish trendline.
Is Litecoin the future?
Charlie Lee intended to create a lightweight alternative for Bitcoin. Much in the same way that Silver is a cheaper alternative for GoldGold. He achieved this through a soft fork on the original bitcoin blockchain and created even better rules for the coin. This means the blockchain and technology upon Litecoin are efficient, fast, and scalable compared to Bitcoin.
(Source: Tradeview)
How do I mine Litecoin (LTC)?
Purchase mining equipment – Purchase ASIC mining hardware for litecoin. In the past, Litecoin mining did not demand much power, and people using average CPUs/GPUs had chances of winning block rewards. But with increasing network transactions and miners, the stakes rose. One has to purchase Application Specific Integrated Circuit hardware now. The best-dedicated mining hardware for LTC is the Antminer L3+. It is fast, strong, solid, and built by the renowned mining equipment manufacturer, BitMain. You can also find cheaper options on the website.
Mining software – Antminer L3+ comes with an installation file. Therefore visit Bitmain’s official website after purchasing the hardware and create your profile. Hit a button labeled IP reporter on the hardware controller for at least 5 seconds. The machine will beep and then release it. Your IP address will show up, and you need to enter this address on the Bitmain Website. Finally, enter your Litecoin wallet address, and you’re good to go.
Register yourself on the blockchain either as a pool or solo miner on Bitmain’s official website and be part of a thriving community of litecoin miners
How do you sell Litecoin?
You can sell your Litecoins through a trading exchange or peer-to-peer exchange. Just enroll into either Coinbase or Binance and sell your cryptocurrencies to other traders on the platform. Other litecoin owners on the network can also sell you the digital currency at your own convenience. You can also trade the coin for other currencies such as Bitcoin, bitcoin cash and so forth.
Will Litecoin go up in 2021?
LTC price will increase in value in 2021; the most bullish prediction for 2021 indicates Litecoin will reach $4,600 by the end of 2021, according to PrimeXBT.
According to wallet investor, Litecoin will attain an average price of $214 by December this year and hit a maximum price of $270. Wallet investor is a digital asset forecasting platform for the professional investor to make smart choices.
Also read our ethereum price prediction and determine the position of litecoin in relation to the leading altcoin.
Is Litecoin a good investment?
Yes, Litecoin is a good investment. In terms of the potential to be adopted and the volume of supply of the coins. The coin is fated to bring more people into the cryptocurrency industry, increasing its market cap and skyrocketing the price of the digital currency.
A key point announced many times ago, before putting your money in Litecoin, is whether you’re in it for the short or the long haul. Additionally, the volatility of digital currencies, and the investment policy should be a focal point for anyone new looking to invest in Litecoin. What’s your timeline mark? Is a week way within your expectations?
Investors should consider the “all rights reserved” status of the policy and whether the rights reserved by the portfolio manager override their rights. Note that an investment policy should clearly indicate the general client objectives and how the manager would meet them. If there might be a fall expected based on predictions, a manager should be able to warn the client.
Apart from the risks involved, Litecoin being a established crypto, having a full-time head, and the ability to make small investments makes LTC a good investment.
