Where to buy, sell and trade Litecoin in the US
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Litecoin (LTC) went live on October 13, 2011, as a fork on the bitcoin network. It’s very similar to bitcoin except it’s designed to be quicker and cheaper to transfer.These similarities have it regarded as a close relative of bitcoin, and its prices have historically risen and fallen with bitcoin prices.
Where to buy, sell and trade Litecoin in the US
You can buy, sell or trade Litecoin in the US on all of the following platforms, in various ways.
How to buy Litecoin with PayPal
You can buy Litecoin with PayPal on Cryptex24.
Alternatively, you might buy bitcoin with PayPal via VirWox exchange, and then trade bitcoin for Litecoin elsewhere.
How to buy Litecoin with a credit card
You can buy Litecoin with a credit card on Coinbase, Indacoin, Coinmama and 247exchange.
How to buy Litecoin with cash
You can buy Litecoin with cash in various forms, at different places.
- Coinmama. Pay cash over the counter at a Western Union for transfer.
- Litecoinlocal.net. You can arrange a cash payment when buying peer to peer.
- Cryptex24. Pay cash over the counter at a money transfer service.
- 247exchange. Make a cash deposit at a bank or pay cash for a prepaid voucher that can be used to buy Litecoin.
To pay for Litecoin with cash, you’ll want to look for platforms that accept cash deposits, prepaid cards or local peer-to-peer trading.
Other ways to get Litecoin
If you want to get Litecoin but don’t want to buy in, there are other ways to get some:
- Trade other altcoins. You can head to an exchange and diversify your investments by trading other altcoins for Litecoin.
- Mining. You can get Litecoin by mining, but it’s popular enough that mining likely won’t be profitable without special equipment.
- Accept in exchange for goods and services. You can accept payment in LTC by providing your cryptocurrency wallet address.
Litecoin wallets
Litecoin needs to be held in a cryptocurrency wallet just like any other altcoin. There’s a wide range of options, but not quite as many as you’ll find with bitcoin.
All of the following hardware wallets support Litecoin.
How to sell or trade Litecoin
- Visit the exchange platform you hold Litecoin on. If you have your Litecoin in a digital wallet, then choose a platform from the ones above to complete your transaction.
- Via the platform, follow the directions to complete your sale or trade of Litecoin.
Litecoin (LTC) vs bitcoin (BTC)
Litecoin has a range of small but significant technical differences. You might think of it as the quarter to bitcoin’s dollar.
- A supply limit of 84 million LTC vs 21 million BTC
The supply limit is the maximum number of coins that will be created. This finite limit is necessary for an altcoin to have value. The LTC supply limit is 84 million compared to bitcoin’s 21 million, so it’s up to four times more common. In November 2017, there were about 54 million Litecoin tokens in circulation and about 30 million left to mine.
- 2.5-minute vs. 10-minute block generation time
Litecoin blocks are generated four times faster than bitcoin blocks. The completion of each block confirms the transactions recorded in that block. Generally, this means Litecoin transfers can be done about four times faster than bitcoin transfers.
Litecoin price predictions: Things to consider
Some proponents of LTC believe it will continue to increase in value. They point out that it’s like a “quarter sized” version of bitcoin that’s arguably more functional, but that its price is much less than a quarter of bitcoin’s. The assumption among some buyers is that even if Litecoin prices peak at a quarter of bitcoin’s, it can still be very worthwhile.
Toward the end of 2017, about two-thirds of all the Litecoin that will ever exist were already in circulation, and it can be assumed that mining will get increasingly difficult as it approaches the supply limit. This makes it more likely that the popularity of Litecoin will result in increased demand, and if demand exceeds supply in the future, that could naturally drive the prices up.
It’s also worth noting that Litecoin has tended to be ahead of its time. It was the first top-five cryptocurrency by market cap altcoin to adopt the features of Segregated Witness (SegWit), which has since become standard among bitcoin and others.
This ongoing development might bode well for its future popularity, as it could prevent other altcoins from overtaking it later. However, like all cryptocurrencies, nothing about Litecoin can be taken for granted.