Is Litecoin stronger than Ethereum?

Litecoin and Ethereum are popular crypto picks, making an appearance in the top 50 according to their market caps. Ranking this high must mean they have both found utility in this overly saturated crypto market, with more than 23,000 cryptocurrencies currently floating. 

However, pitting these crypto juggernauts against each other does not quite work because, frankly, they serve different purposes, and Ethereum isn’t really cryptocurrency; it’s more of a blockchain network of services, but more on that shortly. 

But still, your interest is piqued. For whatever reason, you are entering the crypto market, you must choose between the two. Challenging, but here’s how:

Litecoin: Bitcoin, but cheaper and faster

Picture Bitcoin but ‘lite’ weight, and you have Litecoin. One of the reasons Litecoin is so popular is because it’s a Bitcoin Fork. This means some of Bitcoin’s processes were tweaked to create a new cryptocurrency in Litecoin. The forking event happened in 2011, spearheaded by Charlie Lee, a former Google engineer, with the intention of creating a new crypto that will not replace Bitcoin but supplement it. 

The major difference between LTC and BTC is in its hashing algorithm. It dumped Bitcoin’s SHA 256 for Scrypt, which has since become the industry standard for newer projects due to its speed and efficiency. Litecoin is fast, adding new blocks to the blockchain every 2.5 minutes compared to BTC’s 10 minutes. Its efficiency means it uses less computational power, making it more eco-friendly as it uses much less energy. 

Don’t take my word for it. Litecoin’s growing acceptance is evidence of its growing appeal. Litecoin holders can now use their coins to buy a cup of coffee, wager at an online casino, or buy goods and services online. Author and crypto expert Kane Pepi shares that the best Litecoin casinos support fast and private payments, making them a favorite among gamers. With an average transaction fee of $.0021, it’s little wonder that Litecoin has been adopted by online casinos, e-commerce sites, walk-in malls, and everything in between. 

Ethereum: the Bitcoin Killer?

Bitcoin launched in 2009, Litecoin two years after, and Ethereum another four years in 2015 before we became introduced to Vitalik Buterin and Gavin Wood’s brainchild. Ethereum is a decentralized blockchain-powered software platform and a monster of an idea. It completely revolutionized what cryptocurrencies can be, reimagining the notion that cryptos must be designed and used strictly for transactional purposes. It has since taken its place beside Bitcoin and has since been the crypto with the second highest market cap strictly based on how much value it brings to the entire ecosystem. 

So Ethereum is the blockchain, so what then do you send and receive in your crypto wallet? The answer is Ether (ETH), Ethereum’s native cryptocurrency; it is rewarded to validators in Ethereum’s Proof of Stake (PoS) system and used to facilitate transactions on the Ethereum platform. 

If you think all this sounds complex and that you bet it’s a relatively slow system compared to Litecoin and certainly Bitcoin, think again. The Ethereum platform is the fastest of all three, by a landslide, with some transactions only taking mere seconds. One of the reasons these transactions are completed so quickly is the added incentive that gas fees offer validators in addition to the block reward they receive. Simply put, transactions are completed on the ETH blockchain in order of priority, which is determined by how much gas fee is being paid to complete the transaction. The result is that Ethereum is significantly pricier to use than Litecoin. 

So why use Ethereum? Four words: decentralized applications and smart contracts.

Decentralized Applications (dApps) and Smart Contracts

Decentralized applications, or dApps, are your regular gaming, finance, and social media applications that are running on a peer-to-peer network (the blockchain) instead of a single computer. What this does is reduce the chance of mistakes as all the computers on the network can verify inputs on the blockchain and eliminate the risk for fraud, which will come in handy for online and anonymous casinos where the users ordinarily might be weary about losing their money or in regions where they are lacking shockproof financial infrastructures. 

Smart contracts are the other part of this elaborate Ethereum puzzle. They eliminate the need for a middleman or third party, creating a system where people can enter into self-executing agreements that do not need an intermediary to confirm the events that make up the agreement. This offers even more security to the decentralization on offer, as it allows people to transact openly in a trustless system without encountering problems. 

Conclusion: Which is stronger?

Objectively? Ethereum is in a class of its own; while Ethereum alternatives like Solana and Polkadot have made significant inroads, it will be a while before they reach the same stride. The complexity of the Ethereum system outclasses Litecoin in most areas, but then again, that might be the problem. When you want to make a purchase, you don’t want to worry about gas fees and other things on the ETH blockchain platform. The simplicity you get from Litecoin will come in handy on that day when you want zero fuss. 

If you ever need to throw around the full weight of the blockchain, go Ethereum and, for a lighter touch, Litecoin — it’s already in the name.