Cryptocurrency Charlie Lee remains one of the most famous, although it is no longer included in the top 15 largest in terms of capitalization. Experts assessed the likelihood of the asset's return to the market leader
On October 12, 2021, exactly ten years have passed since the creation of the Litecoin cryptocurrency. It uses the same programming code as Bitcoin, with some differences in characteristics. The creator of the altcoin, Charlie Lee, said that the coin was needed not to replace bitcoin, but to supplement it. If Bitcoin is called "digital" gold ", then Litecoin -" digital silver ".
The total emission of Litecoin, as in the case of the first cryptocurrency, is limited. However, if the number of bitcoins ultimately reaches 21 million, in the case of LTC the figure is slightly higher – 84 million. Litcoin offers cheaper and faster transactions. The policy of the project is as follows: Bitcoin is needed as a store of value, and Litecoin is a tool for everyday calculations.
However, over time, the popularity of Litecoin has declined. This can be evidenced by the fact that the cryptocurrency takes only 16th place in the list of the largest in terms of capitalization. Its market valuation is currently $ 11 billion, while the capitalization of Dogecoin, for example, is at the level of $ 29.5 billion. At the same time, the market leaders of Bitcoin and Ethereum are estimated at $ 1 trillion and $ 416 billion, respectively.
LTC has lagged far behind other cryptocurrencies in terms of development and marketing promotion, said Roman Nekrasov, co-founder of the ENCRY Foundation. If back in 2017 they saw the prospect of mass adoption in litecoin, now few people will name at least five reasons to use this particular cryptocurrency, the expert believes.
When the Bitcoin network experienced congestion and sending funds using BTC required a long wait, the mempool was congested, and Litecoin was used as a means to quickly send funds. It was popular, had liquidity and was easily converted into bitcoins later. Now the problem of an overloaded mempool for bitcoin is not so acute, Nekrasov noted. Solutions of the second level, such as the Lightning Network, have appeared, allowing transactions to be executed almost instantly.
“Perhaps the Litecoin Foundation is having funding problems. Perhaps there is not enough vision for the systematic development of a marketing strategy. It is difficult to say what this is connected with, but in the information field of the cryptocurrency market, LTC is little represented. I do not see the ground on which Litecoin would be able to break out of the top 5 or move to a powerful growth cycle, ”the expert noted.
Ivan Sharov, CEO of the online store for mining equipment and computer components Hardvar.ru, does not believe that Litecoin will still fall into the top 5 cryptocurrencies in terms of capitalization. However, according to him, the altcoin rate is closely related to the bitcoin price.
“Overcoming the historical maximum LTC directly depends on whether Bitcoin can update its own,” Sharov explained.
BitCluster co-founder Sergey Arestov added that Litecoin is a coin "from which you can expect anything." He recalled that the L3 + miners, which are used for altcoin mining, cost $ 5 thousand in 2017, and in 2019 their official price was about $ 49. At the same time, the cost of the equipment is currently more than $ 1,000.
“About the same dynamics can be expected from Litecoin,” says Arestov.