Recent discussions about the SegWit activation and the Lightning Network implementation it would bring to the Bitcoin network has sparked a round of debate on whether it would reduce Litecoin’s relevance and value in the market. This has been compounded by the fact that recently, also, there have been issues raised by the launch of Bitcoin Cash as eclipsing Litecoin.

Though Litecoin has proven strong in the market for several years, the latest development in the Bitcoin world has widened the gap between the two currencies’ values. While Bitcoin has started riding higher to even breaking an all time high record of over $3500, nothing has changed with Litecoin in the last few days. Rather than to have, at least, returned and sit comfortably at its $50 point since Bitcoin started the upward trend some days ago – Litecoin rose briefly to $50 some days ago – the silver to Bitcoin’s gold has maintained a catch around $45.

This in fact shows that there is no correlation between the change in the price of Bitcoin and that of Litecoin which is quite understandable as their prices are not expected to be hinged on another. Both should be independent of each other. However, while this may not be conclusive at this point – a couple more days would be needed to make a final conclusion, it seems that Litecoin’s value proposition has to be revisited for it not be considered to have run out of steam.

Bitcoin’s unfolding upgrade is a pointer that could translate into a complete lack of interest for Litecoin. Before SegWit was activated on the Litecoin network, the platform has been stagnant for far too long. After the SegWit activation and the subsequent Lightning Network implementation, the momentum gathered by this landmark feat didn’t take Litecoin far.

At the time, its price could have risen in value to, let’s say, $100 which could have pushed many investors to switch and hold on to it. But that didn’t happen. Rather, it stopped around $50 and has since been slipping back except for occasional rises.

Understandably, Litecoin is one of the best altcoins in the market and could be considered even far reliable than Bitcoin Cash. Its integrated LN, huge transaction size and speed as well as its being easily scalable are factors that have worked for it. However, now that SegWit and LN are coming to Bitcoin and considering the plethora of other platforms offering innovative solutions, something has to happen very soon to keep Litecoin where it is presently. Otherwise, it may drop in value in coming months.

Several LN projects are coming to Bitcoin – Blockstream, Lightning Labs, Eclair and Acinq. There is also the suggestion that the various LN projects are being worked on to be compatible with one another. Christian Decker is reportedly working on a cross-implementation test suite which all the LN developers will be using to test compatibility of all the implementations across several scenarios. All of these added together means more attention would be devoted to Bitcoin. This may leave out Litecoin as a viable option for making cheaper and micro transactions.