Litecoin Lights up the Cryptoworld

All the talk at the start of the week was on Bitcoin and whether the launch of Bitcoin futures contracts can lead to any material moves in Bitcoin and the rest of the cryptocurrencies.

Whilst many had expected the futures contracts to come in slowly, things were a little hotter than had been anticipated and Bitcoin certainly saw the benefits of the upbeat sentiment towards Bitcoin in the futures markets.

All things considered, the Bitcoin bubble looks set to keep growing for some time to come and the futures markets have provided strong evidence that all the talk of a bubble may have been more speculative than the investors looking to get in on the Bitcoin bandwagon.

Reports earlier in the week had stated that as many as 300,000 new users had been seen on Coinbase, one of Bitcoin’s major exchanges, between 22^nd and 26^th November.

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So with Bitcoin having passed its first of the two futures markets tests, it perhaps comes as no surprise that the market response to the positive moves were not only restricted to Bitcoin, but also its peers.

The biggest story of the week so far is the moves made by Litecoin, which has surged to $253.42 at the time of writing, up 15.93% on the day, whilst up in excess of 4,000% year-to-date.

It’s no secret that Bitcoin users continue to struggle with transaction speeds and fees and it’s also no secret that Litecoin delivers users with significantly faster transaction speeds with far lower fees.

This week, the Litecoin community decided to step into the limelight and take a more vocal stance on Bitcoin’s shortcomings, following news of more than 230,000 transactions being log jammed on exchanges at the start of the week. The decision to take advantage of Bitcoin’s woes certainly paid off, with Litecoin surging in excess of 60% this week.

Many would have been looking in the wrong direction, distracted by the launch of the Bitcoin futures market to have considered the upside for Litecoin over the near-term. The rally may not be over however and, whatever is good enough for Bitcoin investors is likely to be better for Litecoin’s investors.

We’re not seeing any forks in the near-term that could diminish Litecoin’s sparkle, but Bitcoin’s core developers may need to begin considering what needs to be done to address transaction speeds and reduce fees in order to ensure that Bitcoin remains at the top and is not overtaken by the likes of Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash.

Looking at current market capitalizations, it may seem like a most unlikely scenario for Bitcoin to yield to one of its pressing peers, but stranger things have happened and both Bitcoin’s mining cartel and core developers will likely have taken note of Litecoin’s surge to record highs this week. That alone should be incentive enough for the Bitcoin community to become more united, though that then raises the question of whether such an outcome defies the ethos of Nakamoto’s decentralization.

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