Bitcoin’s days as an alternative to fiat currency could be numbered of LitePay has a successful launch in the coming week, with the Litecoin team bringing fiat and virtual currencies even closer together through a more user friendly platform.

Bitcoin managed to create some distance from Friday’s 7.625.25 low on Saturday, hitting an intraday high $9,491.2, before easing back to $9,097.25 by the close.

Saturday’s 2.9% gain was far from spectacular, with Bitcoin’s weekend rally running out of steam late in the day, as investors look ahead to the coming week.

While news could come from just about anywhere and unravel the weekend’s steadiness, immediate focus will turn to the U.S and the testimony of the chairmen of the SEC and CFTC to the Senate in a crypto hearing that could materially impact the U.S cryptomarket in the coming weeks.

We will expect the U.S to move quickly on regulations as the number of cryptocurrencies continues to rise along with the number of fraudulent cases and reports of theft.

While Bitcoin’s market cap has risen to $155.01bn over the weekend, recovering from Friday’s $131.3bn low, we can expect Bitcoin and the performance of Bitcoin’s blockchain technology to also come under greater scrutiny in the weeks ahead.

Litecoin’s planned release of LitePay in the coming week will certainly put Bitcoin’s flaws in the spotlight, with snail pace transaction speeds and high transaction fees expected to favour Litecoin and LitePay’s product offering over the near-term.

How the Bitcoin team responds remains to be seen, but Bitcoin’s issues will need to be addressed, else Bitcoin may need to give way to Bitcoin Cash, which is likely to be far more competitive than Bitcoin in the real world.

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At the time of writing, Bitcoin was down just 0.55% to $9,175.01, recovering from an intraday low $8,917.67 hit in the early part of the day, with Bitcoin moving within some tight ranges through the early part of the day.

With the cryptomarket recovery through the weekend, Bitcoin dominance has also eased from 35.2 to 34.4%, with this number likely to fall further as the likes of Litecoin see its products gain traction in the market place.

There’s a long way to go for Litecoin to push Bitcoin aside, with Bitcoin having been an alternative to fiat currencies for a number of years, but the markets are fickle and if Litecoin’s LitePay does deliver what it says on the label, Bitcoin’s days may be numbered.

For the rest of the day, we will expect Bitcoin to hold within the tight ranges seen through the early part of the day, with any upside limited as investors already face more challenging times, as major U.S banks cut one of the cryptocurrencies’ major funding sources, with the ban of the use of credit cards to purchase cryptocurrencies.

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This article was originally posted on FX Empire

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