cryptocurrency investors buy Ethereum or Litecoin right now? The post Ethereum vs. Litecoin: Which Cryptocurrency Is a Good Bet Right …
Contents
What is Litecoin?
Originally called Bitcoin-Lite, Litecoin is sometimes called “the silver to Bitcoin’s gold” as it doesn’t use the powerful SHA-256 algorithm for proof-of-work, but rather SHA-256h instead. With that said, this does not make Litecoin slower nor more expensive. Litecoin is one of the oldest cryptocurrencies, having been developed by a Bitcoin developer, Charles Lee, in October 2011.
The reason it has such a long history is because it was actually first introduced to Bitcoin in a software update.
However, as it was a fork from Bitcoin and thus incompatible with Bitcoin’s original software, Litecoin was never accepted by most Bitcoin owners, and in 2013, the Litecoin development team created their own version of Bitcoin.
What is Ethereum?
Ethereum is an open-source blockchain platform that uses proof-of-work (POW) consensus to create the digital currency ether and its software contracts. Each block in the Ethereum blockchain is defined by a computationally-expensive puzzle.
Once a puzzle is solved, it gets added to the chain. At the same time, miners earn ether. In essence, Ethereum is a distributed computing project that lets its users create applications and companies on top of the platform.
While Ethereum is not aimed at the mainstream, it has a huge advantage over its peers in that it has its own native digital currency that enables it to more easily compete in the market. Ether is the native token of Ethereum. It is not a cryptocurrency. Ether was released to the Ethereum public in 2015.
How does mining affect the price of Litecoin or Ethereum?
Cryptocurrency prices fluctuate significantly based on how miners value the underlying technology. While price differences between cryptocurrencies are more pronounced in earlier stages, litecoin’s market capitalization has gained much more than Ethereum’s.
As of today, Litecoin has a market capitalization of around $12 billion, while Ethereum’s stands at about $7 billion. Based on these data, the relative price movement of each cryptocurrency compared to the market can be traced.
To explain the growth of Ethereum and litecoin over the years, let’s first look at the historical percentage differences between the price of each cryptocurrency in different time periods.
What is the difference between Ethereum and Litecoin?
Vlad Zamfir, co-founder of the Ethereum Foundation, and one of the world’s most successful cryptographers, and Vitalik Buterin, inventor of the Ethereum blockchain, explained in December 2017 why Ethereum is superior to Litecoin.
Buterin’s argument included the following: “Ethereum has more practical security solutions (PoS & Segregated Witness), and has more decentralized development than Litecoin. Also, its PoS allows for faster block times than Litecoin.” Buterin then went on to say that he believed Litecoin was only suitable as a store of value.
Indeed, it is my belief that only true believers in cryptocurrencies will buy Litecoin, as there is no positive fundamental news to support its rise.
Which one should you buy, Ethereum or Litecoin?
That’s the top question that often comes up when talking about the two major cryptocurrencies that have driven the recent explosive growth in the cryptocurrency market. For years, you could buy Bitcoin with no questions asked.
But the sudden price rise of Ethereum in the last few months has spawned a second, more exciting (and more volatile) alternative. According to the latest data from CoinMarketCap.com, the price of one Ethereum token (ETH) as of today has increased by more than 44 times compared to the end of 2017.
At the same time, the Litecoin token (LTC) has seen an even more astonishing rise in value – more than five times. Before I go into more detail, let’s first consider why you would want to buy either of these two cryptocurrencies.
Conclusion
If you want a “dumber” crypto, either Ethereum or Litecoin will do. Both will leave you a lot of capital if you manage to hold onto it and the gains of these cryptocurrencies are huge as compared to Bitcoin.
At the same time, with a few changes to your investment strategy, you can choose one or the other or both. Like this post? Want to read more about cryptocurrencies? Click the Follow button at the top of the page.
Disclosure: I own Bitcoin and Litecoin. “> Bitcoin and Ethereum are widely regarded as the two biggest and best cryptocurrencies in existence. Bitcoin gained more than 1,000% in value so far this year, and Ethereum has given a lot of people more confidence in cryptocurrencies.
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