Litecoin is one of the oldest cryptocurrencies and was launched in October 2011.

Bitcoin's wildly successful debut in 2009 - with open-source code and breakthrough blockchain technology - inspired the creation of many projects. Litecoin sparked into life with a strong focus on speed, performance, and scalability. 

Litecoin or LTC is often referred to as the silver to Bitcoin’s gold and is one of the first "alternative" cryptocurrencies, aka Altcoins. 

The project has retained its ambitious and forward-looking aspirations, adopting new features such as Segregated Witness much earlier than Bitcoin and its more conservative approach.

The current price of Litecoin

As of Late August 2021, Litecoin was the world’s 15th largest digital asset with a market cap just shy of $11.7 billion. 

LTC is currently swapping hands at around $175.15, representing a year-to-date gain of roughly 40%. 

Back in April, the coin shot up to an all-time high of $410 before being sent back down to earth along with the broader cryptocurrency market. Between $1 billion and $10 billion worth of LTC trades hands every day.  

How the price of Litecoin is determined

A common view of cryptocurrencies is that they have no intrinsic value. 

While this may ring true compared with traditional financial assets, cryptocurrencies do, in fact, possess enormous intrinsic value. They represent the first time in history that anyone, virtually anywhere with a smartphone or laptop can move value worldwide without touching the legacy financial system.

The dialectic between enthusiasts and detractors drives positive and negative sentiment among traders. 

The price of LTC is ultimately determined by the laws of the markets: supply and demand. Traders put up selling (Ask) and buying (Bid) orders and the order book matching process at exchanges creates the current LTC price, No surprise: it’s constantly changing.

What the bulls are saying about Litecoin (LTC)

Cheaper, faster: Litecoin processes a new block roughly every 2.5 minutes, with an average transaction costing anywhere from $0.01 to $0.04. By way of contrast, BTC produces a new block every 10 minutes at a cost of anywhere from $2 to as much as $60 per transaction, depending on network congestion.

Digital silver: If BTC is “digital gold” i.e. a store of value then LTC is “digital silver,” cheaper and with enhanced “spend-ability.” 

What the bears are saying about Litecoin (LTC)

Too abundant: BTC’s value is largely derived from its scarcity; the coin has a hard cap of 21 million BTC making it an attractive alternative to inflationary fiats. LTC also has a hard cap, albeit one 4x greater (84 million LTC). This arguably makes LTC a less attractive inflation hedge than BTC.   

Bad for the environment: Like BTC, LTC uses a Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus protocol, considered by many to be environmentally unsustainable in terms of its energy/resource consumption.