Ah Litecoin, popularly considered the silver to it’s more famous brother, Bitcoin. While Bitcoin hogs all the limelight and is considered to be the de-facto protagonist of the crypto world, Litecoin has silently become a trusted, cheaper, and more technologically malleable asset.
Today, Litecoin ranks among the top 5 cryptocurrencies with a market capitalization of nearly $5 billion and a price of near $70. It is routinely touted to be one of the more trusted ‘altcoins’ that will survive any bear market, and a cryptocurrency that needs to be a part of any diversified blockchain portfolio.
(Note: Litecoin traded at over $300 during the 2017 crypto bull run)
So before we go onto discuss the various ways how to buy Litecoin, let’s take a quick look at what exactly a Litecoin is and why it is expected to be worth far more than it’s current price.
A Short History of Litecoin
From its humble beginnings of a few edits in the copy-paste of the bitcoin source code by it’s founder Charlie Lee in 2011, Litecoin has endured nearly a decade in the crypto market, sustaining itself with highly dedicated devs and a price action that mirrors the exponential growth of cryptocurrencies. A sharp contrast to the general derision showered on it by maximalists, and other cryptocurrency supporters.
In the beginning, there were no bones made about the fact that Litecoin is a pseudo testing ground for experimental features and upgrades that would be implemented on the Bitcoin blockchain.
This is because Litecoin shares the same source code of bitcoin but differs to it in a few ways. Some of those ways differences include:
- An abundance of 84 million Litecoins in total, in contrast to Bitcoin’s 21 million
- Average block time of 2.5 mins, as opposed to Bitcoin’s 10 mins.
- The difference in mining algorithm with Scrypt, instead of SHA-256, which makes the mining hardware more complicated and difficult.
However, over the years, Litecoin has proved to be a healthy alternative to Bitcoin, being cheaper, faster, and more open to tech changes.
So, even without the ecosystem of Ethereum, or a specific use-case like other altcoins, Litecoin retains the trust and value amongst the crypto community.
And now, with it’s recent ‘halving’, as well as an expectation of an impending bull run of the market, the general consensus is that Litecoin would be a multi-bagger that could offer high ROI, making it one of the must-have ‘altcoins’.
Before You Buy Litecoin
Litecoin, like all other cryptocurrencies, is stored in an online wallet, and it’s absolutely necessary for you to create/obtain a Litecoin wallet before purchasing it.
Now, while you can easily create an account on a crypto exchange like Binance or Kraken to keep your Litecoin on the exchange wallet, it goes against the crypto’s ethos of decentralization, and it leaves you vulnerable to hacks and closure of accounts. An old adage thrown around the crypto community is ‘not your keys, not your coins’.
So, if you choose to not go through the exchange route, you have three options.
Hardware Wallet
Devices like Trezor, Ledger, & KeepKey help keep your Litecoins safe and give you the ultimate control over your crypto by securely storing your private keys.
The downside is they can be expensive to purchase.
Desktop Wallet
The Litecoin Foundation has its own desktop application that can be used to store your Litecoin on your computer.
Mobile Wallet
Many people find storing their crypto on their phone a convenient solution to mobile blockchain banking. Some good options for mobile crypto wallets are Jaxx and Exodus.
These solutions allow you to access and transaction in your Litecoin wherever you go.
Paper Wallet
This is a really simple but efficient method of storing your crypto. You just create a Litecoin address with your coins which looks like this 3CDJNfdWX8m2NwuGUV3nhXHXEeLygMXoAj.
You then write down your private keys to your Litecoin wallet and store them safely.
How to Buy Litecoin
The way you buy Litecoin can largely depend on where you are located and what payment method you would like to use. For convenience, let’s take a look at the easiest ways:
Buy Litecoin Using Bitcoin or Other Cryptocurrencies
If you already have Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency, you can easily trade them for Litecoin. This can be done through any of the numerous crypto-exchanges, although we’d highly recommend the following for their safety and reliability.
- Binance
- Coinbase
- Poloniex
- Bitfinex
- Bitpanda
- Cex.io
- Kraken
The number of Litecoin you receive will be dependent on the value it holds, trading against the respective crypto.
For instance, at the time of writing, 1 Bitcoin will get you 131 Litecoins, while 1 Ethereum will get you 3 Litecoins.
Check here for the most up to date cryptocurrency prices.
How to Buy Litecoin on an Exchange
Buying Litecoins through exchanges offers you probably the most number of options in terms of payment methods.
The determination of which exchange and payment methods you can use will largely depend on your country of residency.
For instance, you can buy Litecoin through Coinbase using a credit card, or a bank transfer provided you live in the US, or Europe. So it’s important you read over the terms and conditions of each exchange before proceeding. However, we shall cover a quick summary of the different options you have
If you’d like to avoid creating an exchange account or you’d like to remain anonymous, Changelly is one of the best platforms to convert cryptocurrencies into Litecoin. It is fast, easy and instantaneous. All you have to do enter your Litecoin address, and how much you want to trade.
Shapeshift has similar a platform that offers instantaneous conversion but it will require more personal information.
How to Buy Litecoin with a Credit Card or Debit Card
Binance, Coinbase, Bitpanda, and Bitstamp are the most popular exchanges that allow you to use a credit card/debit card to purchase Litecoin directly. Other popular exchanges include Cex.io and Coinmama.
Simplex is a platform that is used by most of the exchanges to process credit/debit card transactions and there’s a minimum charge of 5%.
How to Buy Litecoin with a Bank Transfer
Coinbase allows you to do a bank transfer into your Coinbase account, but it can take 5-7 days to be processed and is available for US citizens only.
For Europeans, Bitpanda and Kraken allow SEPA transfers with 3 days processing time. Bitpanda also allows you to transfer using Neteller, Sofort, Giropay.
Cex.io enables users worldwide to use bank transfers for purchasing crypto. SEPA for Europeans and SWIFT for others is the standard.
How to Buy Litecoin on P2P Markets
P2P refers to person to person or peer-to-peer. In layman terms, you give money directly to the person on the other side in exchange for Litecoin without an intermediary. This can be through either cash, bank transfers, PayPal, or any other mutually agreed upon monetary transaction method.
The problem with this method is you’d have trust the counterparty sufficiently to make an in-person transaction. However, if you are ok with trading Litecoins for Bitcoins, you can use online and anonymous p2p exchanges like LocalBitcoins, WazirX, and Paxful.
There are also many Bitcoin ATMs around the world you can use to buy and sell Bitcoin which you can then trade for Litecoin. If you’re in the US, Coinflip has ATM networks that allow you to purchase Litecoin for cash, as well as convert it back to USD which you can withdraw.
Buying Litecoin via Other Methods
If you’d like to use Paypal, Skrill, MoneyPolo or some other method to buy a Litecoin your only option would be to buy Bitcoin first and then trade it for Litecoin.
This is because avenues for buying Bitcoins through PayPal, skrill, and gift cards are far wider than for buying Litecoin directly.
Keep in mind that fees for purchasing crypto through PayPal or other e-wallets is high due to inherent risks associated with irreversible transactions. Cryptex24 is a platform that accepts PayPal transfers for buying crypto.
eToro is another platform you can use to buy Litecoin but we warned it doesn’t give direct control over your assets.
Do you use any other methods to buy Litecoin? Is there any platform you’d like to recommend to us? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.
When it comes to tracking your portfolio of Litecoin and other cryptocurrencies give CoinStats a try.
The post How To Buy Litecoin | The Complete Guide appeared first on CoinStats Blog.
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