CoinGate Announces The Launch Of Litecoin Lightning Network

13th December saw Litecoin achieve a significant milestone: getting its very own Lightning Network on CoinGate, one of the most popular cryptocurrency exchange platforms. CoinGate made the announcement and confirmed by Litecoin’s management team amidst excitement in the Litecoin and CoinGate communities.

A Long Time Coming

The Lightning Network has been described as a necessity to ensuring that Bitcoin not only survives its inadequacies but also thrives. The Lightning Network is a second-layer protocol that facilitates the transaction of Bitcoin and Litecoin. It has been adopted as a solution to a wide range of Bitcoin’s shortcomings – it makes transacting using Bitcoin (and Litecoin, for that matter) faster, lighter, more secure and more adaptable.

Charlie Lee, the founder of Litecoin, has expressed his excitement about the recent announcement by CoinGate. However, Mr. Lee has always been enthusiastic about the Lightning Network – he has in the past described himself as a fanatic of the new platform in several interviews.

Charlie Lee is very optimistic that the Lightning Network has been progressing well, citing the fact that it integrated SegWit back in 2017. According to him, the LN is the key to realizing Satoshi Nakamoto’s dream of independent virtual currency. He has on several occasions emphasized that the Lightning Network will make it possible for users to participate in the peer-to-peer platform even without internet connectivity.

Implications Of A Lightning Network For Litecoin

Litecoin has always been considered a more straightforward, quicker, and more nimble version of Bitcoin. However, unlike Bitcoin which also functions as an investment asset, Litecoin has been mainly used as a means of payment.

The adoption of the Lightning Network for Litecoin is expected to give it even greater flexibility and boost speed, privacy, and security for transactions. According to Charlie Lee, will boost the crypto’s popularity across the world and make it more acceptable to a broader range of merchants.

In a tweet responding to the announcement by CoinGate, Charlie Lee wrote,

“Even Litecoin will soon have more than 1000 merchants accepting LN payments! Thanks, @CoinGatecom!”

If this vision comes to fruition, then Litecoin will also likely appreciate thanks to its increased utility. For most people in the Litecoin community, is the most exciting thing about the recent announcement.

Implications For BTC

As mentioned, Litecoin has always been considered as BTC’s partner. However, the recent adoption of the Lightning Network may change this special relationship and create competition between both cryptos.

The Lightning Network will make BTC easier to use: transactions will be faster and more secure, and more merchants will be capable of adopting BTC as a means of payment. It will see BTC’s main utility shift from investment to everyday utility, just as is the case with Litecoin. Competition, however, may be suitable for Litecoin as, unlike BTC, it adopts significant upgrades much faster.

Conclusion

The recent announcement by CoinGate was just that: an announcement. The lightning Network has not yet been rolled out for Litecoin, but the CoinGate team is finalizing plans to do so. Adoption of the LN will significantly boost Litecoin’s position in the increasingly competitive crypto markets.