Bitcoin Forum

In 2 years Litecoin has gone from zero to over 2 USD a coin, with a total market cap pushing 50 million USD. Bitcoin cultists frequently describe Litecoin as a scam, despite the fact that it is basically a modest reengineering of the existing Bitcoin protocol.

Litecoin is most certainly a scam, but it is cut from the same cloth as a far bigger scam.

lol, thanks for that

Litecoin isn't a "scam" and the fact that (an unknown) someone claims it so doesn't have any relevance on Bitcoin.

Litecoin simply lacks innovation and has no purpose.  It is too much a copy of Bitcoin to every grow to anything rivaling its big brother.

I'm not sure it is trying to "rival" BTC. It is just trying to be better and safer. LTC never forked itself like BTC did. If one day they mess up again and we can't fix it, LTC is all we have.

I just love crypto and want to have/use it no matter what so I hold both.

To be fair, all modern currencies are copies of the Chinese* one

*Or wherever they made the first modern kind of currency.

There is no "mess up" that can't be fixed baring a break in RIPEMD-160, SHA-256 and/or ECDSA.  If that happens LiteCoin provides no protection because it uses the exact same primitives.  The fact that it uses a different algorithm in mining will provide no protection from a cryptographic break.

Let me summarize the OP:

1.What some "Bitcoin cultists" believe must have something to do with what Bitcoin really is.

2.Two thing sharing the characteristics of having a large "market cap" and quick price rise must be similar in some other ways.

Nuff' said.

That last mess up that fork had nothing to do with encryption. Ltc did not have that code and could not break in that way.

For 24 hours you could not use btc but i was able to use crypto coins with ltc.


Having a backup is just smart.

I never said it did but like "last time" any issue can be fixed baring a catastrophic break and if that happens since Litecoin is merely a shallow copy it will be equally destroyed.  Of course pointing out that Litecoin is so under developed that it was using an antiquated db system as an advantage is somewhat hilarious.

Which amounted to absolutely nothing.  What merchant did you spend those LTC at?  


Agreed but Litecoin isn't that backup.  It is too similar, it provides no novel solutions to Bitcoin issues or weaknesses.  If Bitcoin dies Litecoin is probably already circling the drain.

that is a really good point. if i had thought of that myself maybe i would have bought some on this recent crash/dip/thing.

I think what this analysis fails to recognize is that could mess up in a way that was not fundamentally destructive to bitcoin but the markets could incorrectly PERCEIVE that it was and lead to a massive crash.

Yeah that has only happened two dozen or so times.  Markets crashing is simply wealth changing hands.  You either buy, hold, or sell.  For every loser there is a winner.

Ltc is not just a copy. Ltc has its own dev team and is going in a different direction.

I used ltc when btc was down but not to a merchant.

Ltc is the best backup we have. If you find a better one ill sell some ltc and get that.

I just love freemarket crypto not a ltc fanboy.

Btc has not broken for more than a day. If that last fork took weeks to fix people would have had to move to ltc or go back to paypal.

 :D

Can you at least read before responding?  The quoted portion above is the post being responded to.  See my response was directed at the post I quoted.    I bolded the correlation if it helps.

Ltc and btc can be used for more than just trade for goods...

The ltc was used as a down payment for a service from someone i was working with on a project.  We would have done it in btc but btc was forked up...

I did read it and your bolding that text does not make what i said wrong.

Im on a phone and its a hit hard to deal with this formating. I quoted the wrong quote.

Edit just assume i quoted the right part of your post and i can try to edit it later.

Ah yes, that "currency" that is in a month long downtrend because it's coming down from being pumped since MtGox still hasn't implemented it. Truly not a scamcoin. :D

Im not going to say what its value should be. Only its the best back up we have that i know of. If you know a better one please let me know.  Btw paypal and ripple are not correct answers.

Also you make it sound like you dont think btc is a currency or that it is very different from btc.

Odd.

You are referring to the the db lock limit problem of mid-March which created a fork in Bitcoin that lasted only a few hours, not 24. At the time I was worried, like a lot of people were. Now, with hindsight, I think the fork was a major boost for Bitcoin.

a) It proved to a lot of non-IT skeptics that Bitcoin is absolutely a legitimate, complex, technical enterprise. It is software reliably working for years at a time. This is the opposite of an empty ponzi or pyramid scheme. How many companies and governments have technical issues with software? All of them at one time or another.

b) It proved that the major people involved in Bitcoin could work fast to restore normality. It means that any future problem could also be addressed, which actually happens for minor issues occasionally anyway.

The price was at $47 when the fork happened, but within days shot up and we have not seen that level again.

Litecoin is riding BTC's coat-tails, and I agree it is here for the long-run, might get some general acceptance, but also consider that it offers nothing much different.

Check my sig, you'll find one right there.  ;)

All the crypto currency are the same to me, just that Bitcoin is first just like Window...

If backup is the main argument, then that does not make LTC much better either. We can easily use XPM, FTC, PPC, WDC, NVC etc etc

Hey you are not in jail! Hows it going?

Yeah. I pretty much agree. But that does noy mean btc cant break for good and ltc is what some will use.

I hold some ltc cuz i thought btc might break.


Ltc was 5 cents then and over 2 dollars now.   I must not be the only one.

It has no purpose aside from being internet money, which is exactly the same purpose as bitcoin has.

Litecoin has value because me and a lot of other people have them and are not spending them, and they are difficult to generate.

I also trusted litecoin and have been keeping since many months ago. But the price keep dropping make me feel really bad...

http://www.cryptocoincharts.info/period-charts.php?period=6-months&resolution=day&pair=ltc-btc&market=btc-e

Expect all your litecoin wealth to be destroyed, because this trend will continue down to 0.

Very good arguments here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Z93QGE4aFA

Life is a scam... deal with it?

Bitcoin would have the same trend as Litecoin :)

I think its important to have a variety of hashing algorithms just like there are a variety of precious metals. Especially when you consider that SHA-256 was developed by NIST - a known bullshit organization.

There are going to be a lot of people that prefer Scrypt coins because they are still mined on GPUs, and the idea of needing specialized hardware to mine bitcoin is going to be a turnoff for p2p enthusiasts.

I felt the same way about bitcoin in the fall of 2011. I cashed out hundreds of bitcoins -  now THAT is sad.

The whole Bitcoin Ecosystem has led a charmed life...
To the point where it's highly centralized in California and Chinese foundries...
And smug Bitcoin Monopolists feel completely immune from any external threat...
All this for an entity with ONE (1) paid Dev.

LOL...
The US Government places a low priority on primitive, low velocity "toy commodities"...
And it takes DOJ several years to gear up on a target...
But a major Govt actions on BTC are in the pipeline...
It's inconceivable that Govts will allow a serious threat to Fiat. 

We are going to need 100s of diverse, global, EXCHANGABLE Alts to survive the onslaught...
With 2nd Generation design and protocols...
That don't create centralized monopolies...
And that don't require burning 500 lbs of coal/BTC.

I agree up to the last point - the less energy used to create the currency the less valuable it will be.

"burning coal" is a function of energy creation, not cryptocurrency. I can see how it will become more cost effective to use solar and wind energy to mine cryptocoins.

It will likely be the same as for people who bought Bitcoin at $20 each in 2011.  Ignore the market and hold, as the market is based on speculation while the contraction of LTC supply is based on mathematics.

Bitcoin and all altcoins will be regulated under the same cryptocurrency umbrella. Alts will provide you with no protection.

Exactly. It offers nothing new and changes the game in no way. Nor will it, ever.

For me the goal of LTC was not to rival BTC but to be its silver, or if god forbid, take over for a dead/broken BTC.

LTC clearly has a purpose and yes it does offer somethings that are new. Is it very different from BTC? Not massively, but is silver massively different from gold? Sure silver will not be worth as much as gold, (unless gold breaks somehow) but there is a place for both.

Silver as a commodity currency came about because it is impractical to make (with 1800s era technology) small gold coins.   1 gram of gold was roughly a day's wage in 1840.  Imagine there was no silver or copper based currency.  So you work a day and your employer gives you a gram coin.   Now what.  Your hungry and want a meal it will cost 1/20th of a gram of gold.   Does anyone make 1/20th of gram gold coins?  Are you going to break out your magnifying glass and knife to cut your 1 gram coin into 20 pieces.

Bitcoin isn't gold, Bitcoin doesn't suffer from the limitation of physical size.   It is just as easy to spend 1/20th of a BTC as it is 1 BTC unlike spending 1 gram of gold or 1/20th a gram of gold. 

Silver was used by the Romans and people before them. Who is to say we did not use gold because silver was too heavy/bulky? Hard to say what was first but it does not really matter.


Anyway one day, if BTC really takes off, and there are really high fees for sending small amounts of BTC in transactions you might find LTC the "liter" and faster option.

Are we there yet? Nope. Will we one day, I sure hope so, both for BTC and LTC.

It might become a pretty ideal option when bitcoin network fees become high, as eventually the miners control network fees and there are a limited number of transactions that can go through the network each day.  If the number of network transactions increases exponentially, eventually fees will be exorbinant.  Everyone knows that bitcoin can not support even a fraction of the transactions that visa processes per day.

This this and this. Some people have sunk too much wealth into LTC to clearly see the truth.

LTC is SCAM cause someone lied to you that you can mine that crap only with your CPU...

You assume that people think instead of following yesterdays hype. The days of LTC have only just begun. Think of 1999 for stocks. Cryptos will have that moment too before reality sinks in.

yes crypto is useless   ::)

LTC price is still low enough so that room for increasing its value is huge. On the other hand, BTC is now on top of the world, but the chance of a hard landing is high too.

On the other hand there is plenty of room to drop more.

:) Who cares when LTC price drops down to 1 USD/LTC from its current price of 2 USD/LTC (that represents 50% of loss)? Now what happens if BTC price loses about 10% of its value? Do you see the maths here?

Who cares? Well the Litecoin holders will care for starters.

So your saying it's better to take a 50% loss rather than a 10% one?  :o

Switch your time reference to 2018 and suddenly the price swings do not mean anything.

Definitely no. Its all about how you want to handle risks. If you are risk averse, then LTC can be a good thing to invest in. If you are willing to take risk, then go with BTC. Higher risks are associated with higher margins of profits/losses and vise versa.  Easy to understand, right?  ;)

Its the opposite. BTC is lower risk. LTC is higher risk with a chance of a higher reward.

Litecoin shouldn't be looked at as silver while Bitcoin is gold. Others have brought up how easily divisible Bitcoin is compared to gold. I own a 1/10 oz gold piece that's about the size of a penny. It's worth about $130. Since it's already the size of a penny, it's impractical to divide any smaller...that's where silver (or copper) come in.

Instead, Litecoin and Bitcoin should be looked at as MasterCard vs. Visa. Most merchants accept both (except for my local DMV which only accepts MasterCard...go figure) and they both serve the same purpose.

Good point. This Bitcoin gold, Litecoin silver is just a clever marketing ploy.

For me LTC is a small brother of BTC, and they are bound together. But btc can survive without LTC and LTC cant

At present LTC is just pump and dump. Play it well and you end up with more BTCs.

That is a possible scenario for LTC however I would say the proof is in the pudding.  Where is the LTC equivalent of coinbase, bitpay (and competitors), BitInstant, etc.   People genuinely believed in Bitcoin far beyond what they could pump and dump to invest equity both the $$$ kind and the sweat kind to bring services to Bitcoin.    It is those infrastructure services which will lay the foundation for broad merchant adoption.

The "LTC gameplan" on the other hand is: 1) buy some LTC, 2) claim it is silver to BTC gold 3) ??? 4) profit.  If the LTC "boosters" really believed what they were saying they would be taking out loans, quiting their day jobs and starting the next big thing for LTC.  Except they don't. Imagine if Mastercard hadn't done any work to build a network, recruit merchants, compete with VISA for mindshare, etc.  It was just a brand nobody accepted and they went around claiming "Mastercard silver to VISAs gold".  :)  It's stock chart would look very similar to LTC exchange rate chart.

BTC has had a bit of a head start on LTC. Who is to say these things are not in the works? Gox will sell LTC. Coinbase is thinking about adding LTC support. Other stuff is going on. Come back in a year and things might be very different. If not, then you might be right.

Like it or not there are people with a lot of money building stuff up for LTC.

Still, I never expect LTC to even come close to replacing or equaling BTC. LTC might one day be used more for micro transaction cuz faster/cheaper but BTC will be the gold standard, assuming it does not fork it self up.

Well that did work for me but that was not my end goal. Just never want to be with out useable crypto.

The "gold standard" is actually the digital currency with a newly invented 51% defense system, something bitcoin and litecoin sorely lack.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldcoin

lol, welcome to my ignore. hijack spam really is fail.

LOOOL :d

LTC is awesome just like BTC. At the end it's about making money regular people dont give a shit technically. A friend of mine is going buy tons of LTC he doesnt care about the slight techinal things, he think its legit enough and worth investing and sees it from a different perspective than the techy kids who think they represent the crypto elite with their silly predictions  :D

LTC has value cuz people think it does. Same with BTC.

Litecoin Devs are putting out some crazy stuff lately, helping development of Bitcoin as well. I have a lot of confidence in Altcoins. It has not even started yet for cryptos.

Most of the LTC haters do not even know what the LTC dev team is doing. They are happy at just calling it the same as BTC when it is clearly not. LTC might get better than BTC but I still think it will never be the main coin (unless BTC breaks)

BTC will not break, but check out the LTC price in $ when BTC was 120+ $, and check it now. How much LTC decreasd in $ a little. PPL dont see a poent

BTC broke before many times, and so far has been fixed every time. Will get get fixed next time? I sure hope so but if not for me, I have a back up...

Some people buy LTC for speculation, it is a good tool to use to get "money" out of BTC and into something else other than dollars. You can see that when BTC goes up, LTC now goes down. This trend happened after we jumped from 5 cents to $6.

most of the arguments used against LTC and the same ones normal people use to attack BTC. Sad as it is both crypto :/

Will coinbase, mt gox and others start using LTC? Maybe? Will the LTC devs keep working on LTC and making it better? Sure.

Honestly I am glad I have both and if one of them dies I will be looking for a new back up no matter what. I guess it is just my nature.