Traveling at the Speed of Litecoin (LTC)

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To be quite honest, as exhilarating a ride as it has been, it may be nothing compared to what lies ahead if the masses pile into the future prepared for them courtesy of Coinbase, et al. As the accessibility of the crypto-universe opens up to the middle class, solutions to the heavy fees and slow-as-molasses transaction times of our grand-fathers cryptocoins become necessary. And as micro-payments start to fuel the various alt-vehicles continuously pushing for the stars, a lighter material will be needed to build our spaceships.

Still, as new coins, er, spaceships are constructed around us, and new materials are discovered, will our small craft be overtaken by a still lighter, faster design yet to be realized? This cannot be ruled out, and such a future may change our LTC metaphor from that of a rocket to something more like a meteor, descending faster than it ascended, ultimately disintegrating upon re-entry.

So What Gives?
Given that we now sit at the precipice of an uncertain future, how do we decide if this is the coin to get us out to that proverbial moon? With what information can we derive an answer to our questions of sustainability, feasibility, efficacy? In other words, how much money is left to be made or lost if the established community continues to hold on for dear life? The answers to the burning questions of life are seldom easy, but a look at the latest trends, market cap, development news and community sentiment are certainly worth a look. 😉

Litecoin (LTC) was founded in 2011 by Charlie Lee, a former Google employee and early crypto- visionary. Inspired by the decentralized nature of BTC, LTC is in fact nearly identical to it’s older, slower sibling. The slight differences it does have when compared to its genetic twin (having literally forked from the Bitcoin Core client) are crucial to it’s speed and low cost transaction promise. These differences include a larger supply of available coins and a decreased block generation time.

With a current market cap of nearly 17 billion, and max supply of 84 million coins, it will be difficult to catch up to it’s bigger brother, who boasts a fixed supply totaling less than a third that of LTC. Of course, a third of BTC’s value is well above the measly 300 bucks per LTC currently offered.

The LTC community continues to surprise us with their hardcore HODLing attitude and active posting on popular sites like Reddit and Twitter. As a testament to the communities attitude toward investment, I saw my first HODL tattoo last night, proudly displayed on social media by a very happy early entrant into this space.

Conclusion
The coin looks solid as a holding opportunity for the immediately foreseeable future. The community is active and confident and the platform has been thoroughly tested. With the current nature of the crypto-market, a 10 or even 20% drop is not a cause for any true alarm. While I might not start piling in with the masses at this point, were I already aboard this rocket ship, and I truly wish I were, I would be getting strapped in to my seat, preparing for an adventure of epic proportions.

Still, investing in crypto currency isn’t for the faint of heart. In the immortal words of Han Solo from the original Star Wars film, “Traveling through hyperspace ain’t like dusting crops, boy! Without precise calculations we could fly right through a star or bounce too close to a supernova and that’d end your trip real quick, wouldn’t it”?