How Bitcoin's rising transaction fees will boost Litecoin
As of February, Bitcoin transaction fees are up 1289% since March 2015 as Bitcoin transaction volume in 2017 approximates $250 million per day or about $180,000 per minute. That represents a 55% increase over 2016 and 173% over 2015. Bitcoin has added $10B to its market cap over the last year and currently processes three transactions per second. For Bitcoin users, as trade volume increases the very factors that have caused the volume to be so high; low transaction fees at high speeds will begin to decline. That's where Litecoin comes into play. It offers the same stability as Bitcoin with a smaller blocksize essentially making it the silver to Bitcoin's gold. Although many will argue the superiority of smart contracts or many other features of altcoins there will always be a huge market, especially in countries with unstable currencies, for a private, stable and easily transferrable asset. As we see instability increase in the world along with the rapid increase in cryptocurrency volume people will flock to Litecoin, and with a market cap of only 1.5 billion there is huge upside potential for Litecoin.
Litecoin is a sleeping giant - it is only waiting for the good opportunity to wake up and rise
Do you think the potential approval of SegWit among Bitcoin miners could limit potential for Litecoin?
Definitely, although short term I see the SegWit causing instability in bitcoin short term which could bring more attention to Litecoin and other altcoins. Long term the SegWit would definitely take market share from Litecoin
I agree that transactions of a smaller amount will be hindered by Bitcoin's higher transaction fees. Larger chunks of money that flows into Bitcoin as an investment may not be discouraged though. Compared to commissions and fees in standard investment vehicles the fee may not seem as cost prohibitive at present. How do the fees for Litecoin transactions compare? What other coins do you think will benefit from a disparity of transaction fees?
I definitely agree with you about larger investments, especially since they will be more interested in stability (especially with mutual funds or VC funds) but there is a huge untapped market of individuals in need of these assets. As far as other coins go I see altcoins in general benefitting in a major way. I just see litecoin being one of the most quickly adopted for its simplicity and easy access on sites like coinbase.