Will the litecoin ever overtake the bitcoin?

[Mageant]

I don't think LTC will overtake BTC, but there are additional advantages of LTC besides the faster confirmation times:

- 4x transaction capacity (BTC can have 1MB of transactions per 10 min. while LTC can take 4MB)
- smaller blockchain so far (no SatoshiDice)

[btc_pbx]

pretty much no

[mixmaster]

[...] additional advantages of LTC besides the faster confirmation times:

- 4x transaction capacity (BTC can have 1MB of transactions per 10 min. while LTC can take 4MB)
- smaller blockchain so far (no SatoshiDice)

@transaction capacity:
Does this mean that LTC can do a bigger amount of transactions per time? Is the number of transactions BTC can do per 10 min. too low to work as a widespread world currency?

@smaller blockchain so far:
It doesn't matter how small it is NOW. If LTC gets big, the blockchain will be big. And there will be a LatoshiDice then^^

[EaseOfBitcoin]

I'm staying with Bitcoins for now as my mail currency, but I have invested in some Litecoins, because, who knows.

[adamas]

There is a good chance that LTC moves closer to BTC in the near future.

[Shutz]

There is a good chance that LTC moves closer to BTC in the near future.

LTC got 4x more coins with a similar strategy, how should it overtake BTC?? o.O

[mixmaster]

LTC got 4x more coins with a similar strategy, how should it overtake BTC?? o.O

Erm... With "overtake" nobody means 1 LTC has a bigger value than 1 BTC...
What we mean is the general acceptance, the usage worldwide etc.

[mixmaster]

Another possible disadvantage of LTC:

Scrypt has been less widely used and analyzed than the SHA2 hashing algorithm used in bitcoin, so there is some concern about possible weaknesses in its cryptographic scheme being discovered in the future.

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Litecoin

(Litecoin uses scrypt as a proof-of-work scheme.)

[Mageant]

[...] additional advantages of LTC besides the faster confirmation times:

- 4x transaction capacity (BTC can have 1MB of transactions per 10 min. while LTC can take 4MB)
- smaller blockchain so far (no SatoshiDice)

@transaction capacity:
Does this mean that LTC can do a bigger amount of transactions per time? Is the number of transactions BTC can do per 10 min. too low to work as a widespread world currency?

Yes, LTC can do more transactions per time with the current limit of 1MB per block.

1MB per 10 minutes (or even 4MB per 10 minutes) would not be enough for a widespread world currency. Other than actually raising the 1MB per block limit there are solutions, such as Ripple, that would help get around this problem. In effect, Bitcoin could become a "backing currency" such as gold, where you only do large transactions between banks/money services to balance out the accumulated differences from the common transactions.

[chrxn]

[...] additional advantages of LTC besides the faster confirmation times:

- 4x transaction capacity (BTC can have 1MB of transactions per 10 min. while LTC can take 4MB)
- smaller blockchain so far (no SatoshiDice)

@transaction capacity:
Does this mean that LTC can do a bigger amount of transactions per time? Is the number of transactions BTC can do per 10 min. too low to work as a widespread world currency?

Yes, LTC can do more transactions per time with the current limit of 1MB per block.

1MB per 10 minutes (or even 4MB per 10 minutes) would not be enough for a widespread world currency. Other than actually raising the 1MB per block limit there are solutions, such as Ripple, that would help get around this problem. In effect, Bitcoin could become a "backing currency" such as gold, where you only do large transactions between banks/money services to balance out the accumulated differences from the common transactions.

I agree with this. I think that Litecoin will be a more stable currency because it is ASIC and FPGA resistant. I can definitely see Litecoin jumping in value after being introduced on mtgox, and it being used for "lite" transactions, where Bitcoin becomes a more long term value store.

[mixmaster]

I see. Interesting stuff

Thanks for sharing your thoughts

[Shutz]

LTC got 4x more coins with a similar strategy, how should it overtake BTC?? o.O

Erm... With "overtake" nobody means 1 LTC has a bigger value than 1 BTC...
What we mean is the general acceptance, the usage worldwide etc.

Okay, i missunderstood this one.

The only real difference between LTC and BTC is the algorithm, and that wont be a reason. I think only PPC with its Proof-of-Stake has a chance in the long run to survive for all time. In 10-15 years miners have to mine for transaction fee's, and not for the basic reward (25 BTC atm). But who wants to pay fee's everytime they make a transaction? And those fees have to be pretty high to make mining still usefull.

[mixmaster]

But who wants to pay fee's everytime they make a transaction?

Everybody who wants that his transaction will be executed 
But well, that doesnt really belongs in this thread.

[sublime5447]

Bitcoin sucks I dont even use it any more. It has fucked me more than once on the confirmation time. BTC will die soon IMO, it wont be litecoin that kills it but another coin will. I have no loyalty to any coins and if a better one comes out I will switch for now I use ltc. 

[bitcork]

Based on Bitcoin's ubiquity so far, it is doubtful Litecoin will overtake Bitcoin in value although it wouldn't surprise me if Litecoin became very important as mentioned above, "silver to Bitcoin's gold".

[incloudibly]

Bitcoin is much more popular and the winner takes it all.