Ever since 2011, when Litecoin was created, it was regarded as Bitcoin’s younger associate. Litecoin has been created by previous Google employee Charles Lee. He took the basic idea behind the development of Bitcoin and used it to create Litecoin while changing a few main components. The block time of Litecoin is 2.5 minutes on average as compared to 10 minutes for Bitcoin. With the change in the mining algorithm from SHA-256 to Scrypt, things have become more complicated. Furthermore, the overall number of Litecoins obtainable is 84 million as compared to 21 million for Bitcoin.
How to buy Litecoin?
It is quite easy to buy Litecoin. You can do it in 3 simple steps:
1. Acquire a Litecoin wallet
Before buying Litecoins, you would need to acquire a wallet to store them in. Many kinds of Litecoin wallets are available today. Here are a few that you can look for a better user experience:
Litecoin Hardware Wallets
Hardware wallets can be a very effective choice for storing any cryptocurrency. These wallets hardware items that store your coins offline while protecting them with a private key. Ledger and TREZOR are two main hardware wallets today that are quite popular. Both have different models of hardware wallets and they will the work was done successfully.
Litecoin Software Wallets
Hardware wallets are good, but they would cost you money. So if you want to try some other option, it would be better to start with a software wallet. A software wallet is free and it allows you to store your coins on your mobile or computer. Exodus and Edge are certainly most user-friendly wallets. While Exodus works desktops only, Edge is a mobile wallet.
Locating Litecoin Address
Once you have your Litecoin wallet, you need to locate your Litecoin address. Your Litecoin would be a long sequence of letters and numbers starting with L, 3 or M.
2. Look for an ideal Litecoin (LTC) Exchange
Since Litecoin is becoming more and more popular, the number of cryptocurrency exchanges are also increasing considerably. Here are a few of the easiest exchanges to buy LTC:
- Buying Litecoin using eToro – It is easy to work with and good for beginners. However, you won’t get access to actual coins. eToro is quite a popular and well-established cryptocurrency trading platform. You can buy and sell Litecoins and other cryptocurrencies with fiat currency such as USD or Euro. It also offers great customer support and a wide range of user-friendly payment methods.
- Buying Litecoin using Coinmama – It has been around since 2013 and has a trustworthy name in the industry. Its user-friendly set would make it easier for you to buy Litecoin cryptocurrency. Although it has high fees, you can buy Litecoins instantly using your debit card, credit card, or a SEPA transfer. Coinmama exchange accepts users from most of the countries from all over the world.
- Buying Litecoin using CEX.io – It charges lower fees on the trading platform offers a wide variety of payment methods. On the other hand, it charges a higher fee as a brokerage service provider. CEX.io allows you to buy Litecoin securely and quickly. You can use your credit card, debit card, or wire transfer. Just like Coinmama, CEX.io was also found in 2013 and it has acquired a very good reputation since then. The brokerage platform is easier to use as compared to CEX.io’s trading platform.
- Buying Litecoin using Coinbase – Coinbase accepts traders from 103 countries from around the world. The company has a very established name and has been selling cryptocurrencies since the year 2012. It charges low fees for ACH (Automated Clearing House) or SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area) transfer. However, it does not have a very positive response from users when it comes to its support services. In case you face any issues, do not expect anyone to help you from their support team. The main positive about this exchange is that if this exchange is supported in your country, it would probably be one of the most economical and quickest options for purchasing Litecoins.
- Buying Litecoin through Bitpanda – The first thing is that this platform is not available worldwide. Founded in the year 2014, Bitpanda is a cryptocurrency broker that focuses on buying and selling cryptocurrency inside the Eurozone. It offers an extensive range of payment methods. It charges lower fees and you can Litecoins through Bitpanda using your credit card, SEPA transfer, Skrill account, or SOFORT transfer. It is very popular in and around Europe.
- Buying Litecoin through Bitstamp – Bitstamp is one of the oldest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world. It has a good reputation amongst the cryptocurrency traders and charges low fees and exchange rates. You can buy Litecoins through Bitstamp using your credit card or wire transfer. However, it is not an ideal choice for beginners since it has a complicated setup. On the other hand, if you want, you can change your Bitcoins for Litecoins on the exchange. Apart from having a complicated and pretty bewildering trading platform, Bitstamp also provides a direct buying service for cryptocurrencies using your credit card at a premium. This Bitstamp review has some comprehensive information about the platform.
3. Withdraw Your Litecoins
When you have chosen the right exchange for buying Litecoins, you should open an account and buy your Litecoins. Furthermore, you need to make sure that you withdraw your Litecoins from the exchange and transfer them to your personal Litecoin wallet. It is advisable not to leave your coins in an exchange as you might lose them in case your exchange gets hacked or close down. These kinds of incidents have happened in the past.
Conclusion
All through the years since its introduction, Litecoin has proven itself time and again. With a strong community and development team working behind it, Litecoin is here to stay for a long time. According to the experts, Cryptocurrencies have been gaining momentum and Litecoin and Bitcoin will play an important role in the future global monetary system.
Though some are still doubtful, for now, Litcoin is standing close to Bitcoin and can also be exchanged to be used on automated trading platforms like Bitcoin era. It is quite clear that Litecoin will become a powerful digital currency. It’s still too early to make guesses on which digital currency will win the race. Indeed, it looks like there would be no winner in the future global financial system as there would be many other digital currencies to work with. And Litecoin will probably be one of those currencies.