1. Coinbase rapid growth

This is probably the single, most important reason why Litecoin is sky-rocketing. Coinbase is adding 100,000 new users daily and with new users, there is new money. Coinbase currently only offers 3 Cryptocurrencies for purchase; Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin. At the time of writing, Bitcoin is priced at $17085, Ethereum at $580 and Litecoin at $320.

The circulating supply (number of coins in existence available for the public) and maximum supply (maximum number of coins available) for each of these coins is vastly different. This means that the value of 1 coin for each of these Cryptocurrencies is different. However, new users are unaware of this. They are under the illusion that by accumulating Litecoins, they are gaining more value.

Also, many new users are not aware that Cryptocurrencies (most of them) are divisible. Unlike the Equity markets where you buy an X amount of shares of Company Y, in the Cryptocurrency space, you can have 0.123 Bitcoins or 5.678 Litecoins. This leads new users to purchase Litecoin over Bitcoin since is cheaper as a “whole coin”.

2. Media Exposure

Over the past few days, Charlie Lee (Litecoin’s creator) has been making appearances on public media including CNBC and Glenn Beck. This gives Litecoin a greater exposure and given how simple exchanges (and in particular, Coinbase) make it to buy Litecoin, it is no surprise Litecoin is shooting for the moon.

3. Gateway to other Cryptocurrencies

Litecoin is the best gateway from FIAT to any other Cryptocurrency. Currently, transferring Bitcoin costs approximately 22$ and takes 69 minutes. Similarly, the Ethereum network is congested meaning transactions take more time to process — in addition to being slightly more expensive than Litecoin. On the contrary, Litecoin transactions are much cheaper and faster than the other two.