Which Coin is Better? Litecoin vs. Ethereum

Asgardia.space
Asgardia Space Nation
3 min readFeb 25, 2019

Do you consider yourself a crypto enthusiast? If so, you’ve probably heard of the popular cryptocurrencies Litecoin and Ethereum. But do you know which one is better?

Regarding the top 10 cryptocurrencies for 2019 many people, have a hard time understanding the pros and cons of each currency. To help solve this problem we’re going to take a closer look at both Litecoin and Ethereum so you can determine which coin is best for you.

Litecoin

Litecoin is basically a forked version of Bitcoin. It was developed in 2011 beginning with the Bitcoin codebase. However, Litecoin features a few distinctive traits of its own. For example, Litecoin’s finite supply is 84 million coins whereas Bitcoin’s supply is only 21 million.

It’s also four times faster to mine Litecoin over Bitcoin, and this cryptocurrency is often best for smaller transactions. Litecoin employs SegWit (Segregated Witness) and works to support smart contracts. Nevertheless, most of the active development for smart contracts is based around Ethereum.

Litecoin may be a long-lasting coin due to its endurance. Seeing as though Litecoin has been in existence since October 2011 and it’s one of the few currencies available on the elite Coinbase exchange, it could be a sign that this coin has a brighter future than other altcoins.

But it must be noted that there is an ongoing debate around incorporating SegWit into Bitcoin and if that happens, it would be a significant loss for Litecoins.

As with other cryptocurrencies in 2017, Litecoin saw an enormous spike in price that lasted into early 2018. However, prices have dropped since then but are still substantially higher than in early 2017.

Ethereum

Vitalik Buterin, Bitcoin enthusiast and Canadian programmer developed Ethereum and introduced it in 2013, with a white paper. The white paper outlined the possible uses of an alternative blockchain technology that could function as both a decentralized platform where developers could engineer applications and as a financial tool.

More and more developers began to join the Ethereum platform giving it momentum turning it into a growing community of avid high-tech fans. By the end of 2015, Ethereum became a live cryptocurrency and is now the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. Bitcoin was designed as a cryptocurrency platform whereas Ethereum is a decentralized application platform. However, it also can host the cryptocurrency, ‘Ether’ which works to fuel the network. This distinction is actually a significant reason why Ethereum has become so popular in such a short period.

Moreover, Ethereum’s smart contracts are codes that live on the blockchain and allow for monetary exchanges, or the transfer of content, property, shares, or other valuable items based on the rules that are built into each contract.

LTC and ETH Similarities

Coinbase allows you to trade both Litecoin and Ethereum. They are also featured in GDAX, the company’s exchange for advanced traders. Both Litecoin and Ethereum offer faster transaction speeds than Bitcoin. However, they use different methods for speeding up transactions. Despite the technical details, a speedier transaction time helps a currency stay viable.

LTH and ETH Differences

Litecoin is mainly seen as a currency that forked off of Bitcoin. Although Litecoin and Ethereum were both inspired by Bitcoin, they have taken very different approaches in their development. Litecoin is a quicker and less expensive version of Bitcoin while Ethereum attracts the attention of developers who wish to build applications for the platform. Ethereum can host applications, store data, transfer value, and communicate all on the blockchain. So it’s no surprise that Ethereum has grown in popularity to become on the most used cryptocurrencies.

In Sum

Although all cryptocurrencies have issues with volatility, as of now, Ethereum appears to be the best store of value.

Ethereum has much more interest from the wider cryptocurrency community, and its popularity continues to grow. It’s recognition and availability also continues to move it forward, making it easier for all kinds of transactions.

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