Litecoin vs Bitcoin: Could Litecoin price topple Bitcoin? Cryptocurrencies compared

Litecoin, the fifth-highest ranked cryptocurrency, was launched in 2011 – two years after bitcoin – and is proving an increasingly popular investment choice due to its simplicity and practicality.

The cryptocurrency was recently highlighted as being in line for a major new market exchange from none other than the Winklevoss twins.

The brothers, who run crypto trading platform Gemini Exchange, said one of their 2018 goals is to add Litecoin to their platform.

Tyler Winklevoss said potential tokens for expansion “are from the Satoshi Nakamoto family tree – bitcoin, Litecoin,” in an interview last Thursday.

At the moment only bitcoin and Ethereum are offered on Gemini Exchange.

Why is Litecoin proving popular?

Like bitcoin, Litecoin was launched as a decentralised network but with the aim of being a faster and streamlined alternative.

The Litecoin Network can produce a block of information, containing encrypted data, every two and a half minutes.

This is four times faster than bitcoin’s transaction times, which are ten minutes.

Transaction fees are much lower as a result and and much easier for everyday transactions.

This has not gone unnoticed by large multinationals with rumours swirling that Amazon and Starbucks are both keen to adopt the cryptocurrency in 2018.

Could Litecoin price topple bitcoin?

Litecoin’s price has been surging compared to bitcoin this year, although it is not immune to market pressures.

However it has enjoyed exponential growth since March 2017, when it was priced at $4.05 compared to its current value (as of March 13) of $175.26.

In contrast, bitcoin is struggling to stay above $9,000 after dipping below the crucial pricing marker several times recently.

Founder Charlie Lee, a former Google employee, has said price predictions for both bitcoin and Litecoin are impossible to predict, even admitting on Twitter in December that buying the LTC digital currency is “extremely risky”.

But he added: “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 told CoinTelegraph.com in an interview in January: “People misread that [tweet] and thought that I was telling them to sell because it’s [Litecoin] going to drop 90 percent.

“I mean, it could. But I’m just raising the possibility that it’s too volatile and you shouldn’t bet more than you can risk that you’ll lose. Long term is good, short-term – no one knows.

Why is the crypto market so volatile?

Market uncertainty has been attributed to the threat of regulation, potential hacking and a sell-off of tokens from the Tokyo Whale.

READ MORE: Bitcoin price: Why is BTC falling? Is ‘Tokyo Whale’ behind slide? Can bull market return?

Charles Thorngren, CEO of Noble Alternative Investments, told Forbes that all cryptos are affected but since Bitcoin is ”the largest of them, it often bears the brunt of the short sellers and traders”.

A crackdown on crypto-assets is looking increasingly likely as G20 leaders gather in Buenos Aires on March 19 to 20.

Reuters reported that a call for stronger monitoring of crypto-assets and international standard-setting bodies appears in a draft paper which it has seen.

Investors now will be nervously waiting to see what announcements will be formally made by world leaders.