By CCN.com: Crypto trader Mike Novogratz fails to see the value in Litecoin. Novogratz, who is at the helm of crypto merchant bank Galaxy Digital, blasts Litecoin’s size and in doing so seems to comes across as threatened by the fifth-biggest cryptocurrency. The Litecoin price has seen its value expand by 40% in April alone, gains that if you ask Novogratz would be better served by bitcoin.

The former Fortress hedge fund manager capitalized on Litecoin’s reputation as being digital silver to bitcoin’s gold, comparing the size of the respective precious metal and crypto markets. While silver’s market cap is a mere fraction of gold’s, Litecoin’s value is more than 6% that of bitcoin.

That irks Novogratz, who tweeted:

“Litecoin is a glorified test net for BTC. I don’t get this rally. Sell LTC [and] buy BTC.”

Gold has an $8.5 trillion dollar market cap. Silver is $15bn That is .17%. $BTC has a $90bn mkt cap. $ltc is $5.7bn which is 6.4% of $BTC. Silver is at least useful for industrial production. $ltc is a glorified test net for $btc. I don't get this rally. Sell $ltc buy $btc. — Mike Novogratz (@novogratz) April 3, 2019

Litecoin’s Rally Is Nothing New

What’s surprising is that it took Novogratz so long to rail against Litecon. After all, Litecoin’s price rally started well before bitcoin broke out in recent days. The LTC price has been on a tear since year-end 2018, over which time it has rocketed by approximately 150%. That’s about when the coin’s creator Charlie Lee revealed his interest in integrating privacy features into the cryptocurrency, giving Litecoin the chance to forge its own identity.

Litecoin Is Cheaper and Faster than Bitcoin

Crypto Twitter had a lot to say in response to Novogratz’s call, including eToro Senior Analyst Mati Greenspan, who touted the merits of Litecoin in a tweet:

“LTC is literally silver to bitcoin’s gold. It’s far more useful for transactions as it’s cheaper and faster than BTC.”

Bitcoin has a dominance factor of more than 50%. It will always be the first cryptocurrency and it isn’t going anywhere. Nonetheless, the network has been plagued by transactions that move at a snail’s pace and hefty fees attached. As a result, it has become more popular as a store of value versus a currency, something that the Lightning Network stands to change.

Litecoin, meanwhile, has been able to capitalize on those inefficiencies with block times of two-and-a-half minutes versus bitcoin’s 10 minutes, as per eToro research. This makes Litecoin more conducive to micro-transactions such as purchasing a daily cup of coffee, which is needed for wide-scale adoption.

Litecoin is pursuing one feature that’s missing from bitcoin and that’s fungibility, which will make LTC units interchangeable. The Litecoin Foundation’s partnership with privacy coin Beam is expected to result in confidential transactions for LTC in 2019.

Heavy Weight Marketer

Meanwhile, Charlie Lee has become a master promoter of the project. He’s inked deals with the likes of the UFC, Glory Kickboxing, TokenPay/WEG bank, Beam cryptocurrency, Mammoth Film Festival, and more. Upcoming catalysts include a halving that’s planned for August 2019, and the aforementioned confidential transactions, not to mention the increasing integration of the Lightning Network for greater scalability.

Lee has more tricks up his sleeve. The Litecoin Foundation is teasing 2019: A Litecoin Odyssey featuring the Litecoin Summit to be held Oct. 28-29 at the Cosmopolitan Hotel of Las Vegas.

As for Novogratz targeting Litecoin, it’s similar to a sports analogy: They only go after those holding the ball.

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