Will LitePay Be the Game Changer that Takes Cryptocurrency Mainstream?
After a month of deep double-digit dives in the crypto markets, we could be on the brink of a launch that sends it soaring again. The Litecoin Foundation is apparently now only days away from releasing a revolutionary new tool called LitePay. This new tool, first announced before Christmas, will allow businesses to accept payment in Litecoin (LTC), as well as with the Litecoin-exclusive debit card, from anywhere in the world instantly and without any of the worry associated with cryptocurrency value volatility.
An alternative Litecoin payment platform called LitePal is also set for launch later this year. According to the developers the new transaction tool “was created to bridge the gap between merchants and the cryptocurrency world, all on one simple, secure and fast platform.”
There are some who suggest that cryptocurrencies will continue to remain violently volatile until the infrastructure of credit cards, debit cards, and online payment platforms are in place. These basic tools of trade will allow the average person to effortlessly employ their cryptocurrency for use in day-to-day purchases and help to usher in widespread adoption. It’s that same eventual ease of use that enabled the internet in the 90s to become the consumer-powered titan it is today.
A couple months back, when the cryptocurrency markets were climbing quickly, the founder of Litecoin made some prophetic pronouncements. Charlie Lee warned that “Buying LTC is extremely risky.” He went on to put it in context saying that investors should expect volatility with drops of as much as 90%. He followed that up with an attempt to wave off the faint of heart saying, “If you can’t handle LTC dropping to $20, don’t buy!”
Those dark days arrived this week with Bitcoin (BTC) getting battered as its price dropped below $7,000. Ethereum (ETH) took one on the chin and fell to around $700. Litecoin didn’t hit the $20 low Lee warned about, it bottomed at around $125 according to TipRanks Crypto Center. Just forty-eight hours later we see the positive side of volatility with BTC and ETH back up over $8000 and $800 respectively and Litecoin perched at around $150.
Palwasha Saaim, a Research Analyst at Lombardi Financial believes we are about to see a “game-changer” in the form of Litcoin’s cryptocurrency payment platform. LitePay will allow businesses to accept payment in Litecoin, as well as with the Litecoin-exclusive debit card. According to Palwasha Saaim “Litecoin users will be able to convert Litecoins to dollars and vice versa through their Visa-compatible LitePay cards, which will be usable at all ATMs or businesses that support Visa payments.”
The best part is that this will be for a transaction fee of just 1%- compared to the 3% charged by credit cards. Similarly, Bitcoin’s BitPay is notoriously slow and expensive with transactions fees that will run you about $5 making it cost prohibitive for small purchases like movie tickets or a bagel and coffee. The good news doesn’t end there.
If buying online with LitePay is as simple and seamless as selecting it from a list of payment options at check-out like credit cards and Paypal, then the pain of being an early adopter has all but passed us by. E-commerce payments using LitePay could figuratively ‘light’ the way to making the payment method main-stream. Online merchants can confidently accept Litecoin payments without the worry of volatility because it’s instantly converted into the currency of their choice and deposited into their bank account.
If LitePay does end up being successful, it may usher in the same sort of sea change Amazon’s Jeff Bezos brought us back in 1995. Watch this space.