What is the point of Litecoin if Bitcoin is THE cryptocurrency?

[Fjordbit]

Bitcoin will probably hit it's maximum transaction limit by early next year. At that point in time, we'll need alt coins to be able to reliably transact.

[1715001349]

1715001349

[mr_random]

- The hashing algorithm Scrypt makes it considerably more resistant against ASICs.
- Faster confirmations. We live in a 'time poor' world, getting something done quicker is a definite advantage.
- It's always good to have an alternative. Remember the bitcoin hardfork recently? If Litecoin stays one version behind Bitcoin we will have Litecoin as a back up and Bitcoin as a test network.
- Competition is always good in economic markets
- Gives people who missed out on Bitcoin early adoption a second chance
- Ultimately, scarce things are given value by people. Litecoins are provably scarce and people are giving them value and creating services around them... at the end of the day that's all that matters. 

[Gavin Andresen]

- It's always good to have an alternative. Remember the bitcoin hardfork recently? If Litecoin stays one version behind Bitcoin we will have Litecoin as a back up and Bitcoin as a test network.

Ummm.... speaking of the hardfork, has a version of Litecoin been released yet that fixes the problem?

[bitcool]

- It's always good to have an alternative. Remember the bitcoin hardfork recently? If Litecoin stays one version behind Bitcoin we will have Litecoin as a back up and Bitcoin as a test network.

Ummm.... speaking of the hardfork, has a version of Litecoin been released yet that fixes the problem?

If it's a rhetorical question, that's OK.

If not, I am worried.

[jwzguy]

Devil's advocate time. 

- The hashing algorithm Scrypt makes it considerably more resistant against ASICs.

In what way is it "considerably more resistant" ? Are you arguing that manufacturing cost is the reason there are no litecoin ASICs for sale right now?

- Faster confirmations. We live in a 'time poor' world, getting something done quicker is a definite advantage.

Very misleading. Confirmations coming twice as fast offer half as much security. This is not an advantage.

- Competition is always good in economic markets

Copying Bitcoin doesn't automatically make you competitive. And "good" in what ways, for whom or what?

- Gives people who missed out on Bitcoin early adoption a second chance

No one has missed out on Bitcoin early adoption. But this reasoning is definitely a not an argument for Litecoin. "Litecoin is good because sour grapes."

- Ultimately, scarce things are given value by people. Litecoins are provably scarce and people are giving them value and creating services around them... at the end of the day that's all that matters. 

Scarcity alone is a pretty weak argument for value. But by this argument, why not continue to branch the bitcoin code in insignificant ways a million times over. You can make the amount of coin for each one even more scarce than LTC or BTC. By your logic, each copy should become valuable.

There may be very good reasons to invest and support Litecoin. I don't see them in your post.

[mr_random]

 

In what way is it "considerably more resistant" ? Are you arguing that manufacturing cost is the reason there are no litecoin ASICs for sale right now?

No. The Scrypt algorithm was designed so that it is difficult to efficiently parallel compute it. In fact it will take a computer science breakthrough to accomplish this. See the wikipedia page on scrypt - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrypt. Sure GPU's and FGPAs will give an advantage, but it will never be dramatic due to memory constraints of the algorithm. This has been well discussed on this forum.

Very misleading. Confirmations coming twice as fast offer half as much security.

Not misleading, it is faster. I see no-one complaining about security problems and hundreds of thousands of litecoins get traded everyday.

Copying Bitcoin doesn't automatically make you competitive. And "good" in what ways, for whom or what?

It's not a 'copy' it's an evolution. Competition being good for markets is simple econ 101. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Competition_(economics)

No one has missed out on Bitcoin early adoption.

Come on man... Bitcoins are going for almost $90 a coin. It's all relative, subjective, opinion etc but I think most people would prefer to be an early adopter who got in at under a dollar compared to an 'early adopter' who got in at almost 100 dollars.

Scarcity alone is a pretty weak argument for value. But by this argument, why not continue to branch the bitcoin code in insignificant ways a million times over. You can make the amount of coin for each one even more scarce than LTC or BTC. By your logic, each copy should become valuable.

Except I don't argue anywhere in my post that scarcity alone is an argument for value. Re-read what I typed out. Or I can bolden certain words you have missed.

[yvv]

I just don't see the point of Litecoin, because I don't understand the point.

They are trying to tune up experimental technology which has some flaws (some of them are know, some are yet unknown). That's why litecoin and other altcoins pop up.

[jwzguy]

No. The Scrypt algorithm was designed so that it is difficult to efficiently parallel compute it. In fact it will take a computer science breakthrough to accomplish this. See the wikipedia page on scrypt - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrypt. Sure GPU's and FGPAs will give an advantage, but it will never be dramatic due to memory constraints of the algorithm. This has been well discussed on this forum.

This doesn't really answer my question. What does that have to do with making it "resistant" to building an application specific chip for it? More importantly, why would an end-user care? If the only reason to use LTC is to help disenfranchised miners, sorry, I'm not buying.

Not misleading, it is faster. I see no-one complaining about security problems and hundreds of thousands of litecoins get traded everyday.

The point of confirmations is security. It doesn't matter that it's faster to get a confirmation if the confirmation means proportionately less security than a BTC confirmation. So this is not an advantage.

It's not a 'copy' it's an evolution.

You're not addressing my point. Copying Bitcoin and changing the number of confirmations doesn't make it competition. So far it's just a mutation, not an evolution.

Come on man... Bitcoins are going for almost $90 a coin. It's all relative, subjective, opinion etc but I think most people would prefer to be an early adopter who got in at under a dollar compared to an 'early adopter' who got in at almost 100 dollars.

This is the same argument people were using at 1$, 5$, 10$, 20$, and even 47$. It's still short sighted, and not an argument for a different coin. People who buy into BTC now can be rewarded for the exact same reason that people who bought in before were. We are nowhere close to Bitcoin market saturation. We are all still early adopters.

Except I don't argue anywhere in my post that scarcity alone is an argument for value. Re-read what I typed out. Or I can bolden certain words you have missed.

Ultimately, scarce things are given value by people.

Looks that way to me.

[mr_random]

A lot of what you're saying in your responses is focusing on word play/ semantics. For example, when I say Litecoins are considerably more ASIC resistant, you are trying to interpreting that literally as me saying it's not possible to build a chip to solve the hash. I don't know if you're trolling or not, but obviously you can build a chip to run any conventional algorithm. The point is how much of an advantage that chip gives you over miners who can only afford gpus or miners who just want to use their desktop computer to get some extra coins. Bitcoin ASIC's give the holders an enormous advantage over non-holders, with Litecoin unless a computer science breakthrough occurs there will be no similar devices which afford the users ridiculous computational advantages.

You're saying faster confirmations aren't an advantage because of the trade off of 'security'. I'm not noticing any security issues with Litecoin and I don't see anyone else complaining and hundreds of thousands are traded everyday. All I am noticing is my transactions don't take an hour to confirm 

LOL at saying no Litecoins aren't an evolution they are a MUTATION. Ok buddy, I will let you keep on arguing that lol. Fact of the matter is Litecoins use a different algorithm which has benefits and have faster confirmations which also gives benefits. Really not seeing how they are identical. Do you realise if two things have differences they can't be the same? Do you think gold and silver are identical because they are both made from metal?

About early adoption, according to you if I invest in Apple stock today I am still an early adopter. It's pointless debating it, because it's a matter of opinion what is early. All we can say for sure is, getting in at 50 cents is a hell of a lot earlier than getting in for 88 dollars. Let's asume the high point of bitcoins and litecoins will be one thousand dollars. What sounds better, a 1,000% return on investment or a 20,000% return on investment? (mental maths there so approximate figures)

My last point, I said: Litecoins are provably scarce and people are giving them value and creating services around them... at the end of the day that's all that matters.

[huggybear]

My last point, I said: Litecoins are provably scarce and people are giving them value and creating services around them... at the end of the day that's all that matters.

+1

[Sunny King]

About early adoption, according to you if I invest in Apple stock today I am still an early adopter. It's pointless debating it, because it's a matter of opinion what is early. All we can say for sure is, getting in at 50 cents is a hell of a lot earlier than getting in for 88 dollars. Let's asume the high point of bitcoins and litecoins will be one thousand dollars. What sounds better, a 1,000% return on investment or a 20,000% return on investment? (mental maths there so approximate figures)

I don't disagree with this sentiment, but you need to keep in mind that litecoin has 4x cap of bitcoin so the 50 cents is really $2 if you want to compare it to bitcoin and judge which one is a better value in the long run.

[bitcool]

What sounds better, a 1,000% return on investment or a 20,000% return on investment? (mental maths there so approximate figures)

The numbers are indeed off, it's 1,000% vs 200,000%

[jwzguy]

Not trolling, not arguing semantics, and not sold. Guess I'll stick to BTC until you guys can come up with some better reasons.

[bitcool]

List of things people do that I have no problem with:

1.  Do not exercise and eat junk food
2.  Smoke cigarette, drink alcohol, use marijuana
3.  Take financial advice from Internet forums and buy penny stocks
4.  Use Bitcoin
5.  Use Litecoin

It's called personal freedom.   

[Mjbmonetarymetals]

The point of Litecoin is if Bitcoin is'nt THE cryptocurrency

Why in the world would anyone not buy a handful of litecoins at .50 cents after all this isn't an issue of every Bitcoin holder waking up in the morning and thinking I'm selling all my btc for Litecoin, did litecoins recent 10 fold rise impact bitcoin?I think not, is Bitcoin really so fragile that it would fall on its back and kick its legs in the air if litcoin went up another 10 fold?

[Brunic]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_circulating_currencies

Why people are currently using 182 different currencies around the world?

[mebezac]

I don't disagree with this sentiment, but you need to keep in mind that litecoin has 4x cap of bitcoin so the 50 cents is really $2 if you want to compare it to bitcoin and judge which one is a better value in the long run.

I think this is a really important point that a lot of people miss when arguing about the future value of litecoins. Now mind you, I mine litecoins and I'm invested in LTC, but I don't really expect them to overtake bitcoins. I really think that litecoins will be silver to BTC's gold. But, maybe I'll be wrong 

[hanzac]

No need to argue, these coins need the supporters & a better software base, if one coins' software is improved further (that means it becomes more secure, support faster & more transactions), it will have more value.

[wizzardTim]

- The hashing algorithm Scrypt makes it considerably more resistant against ASICs.
- Faster confirmations. We live in a 'time poor' world, getting something done quicker is a definite advantage.
- It's always good to have an alternative. Remember the bitcoin hardfork recently? If Litecoin stays one version behind Bitcoin we will have Litecoin as a back up and Bitcoin as a test network.
- Competition is always good in economic markets
- Gives people who missed out on Bitcoin early adoption a second chance
- Ultimately, scarce things are given value by people. Litecoins are provably scarce and people are giving them value and creating services around them... at the end of the day that's all that matters. 

I agree. I suggest everyone to try it. Believe me, LTC is here to stay.

[crazy_rabbit]

What is the point of Japanese Yen if USD is THE world currency?


It's a big world. The more money the merrier.