Litecoin (LTC), generally known as “the silver to Bitcoin’s gold,” has been round for nearly 11 years — which is sort of a feat contemplating a good quantity of cryptocurrencies go bust inside 12 months of launching. Cointelegraph spoke with the Litecoin Basis’s managing director, Alan Austin, about why he thinks Litecoin’s core utility is serving as a dependable technique of fee.
As informed by Austin, a lot of his imaginative and prescient for Litecoin is drawn from private expertise:
“Once I completed grad faculty, I labored with startup know-how corporations and actual property. And one of many issues I did was managing accounts for companies like Financial institution of America and Fannie Mae, and it was stunning to see how outdated their know-how was and the way tough it was to get stuff completed.”
After the 2008 monetary disaster, Austin started shedding religion within the conventional monetary system. “Seeing how the massive banks set completely different requirements for everybody at their discretion with regards to entry to cash, and the way now they have been those getting bailed out, it made me actually recognize what blockchain know-how was making an attempt to do,” he informed Cointelegraph.
Austin defined that Litecoin was created with many options and attributes just like Bitcoin (BTC). “For starters, it’s decentralized, and there have been no pre-mine tokens given to founders, making it a good launch. It additionally has a restricted provide, is extremely liquid and has very low charges. Furthermore, the blockchain has been on-line for 11 years with out downtime.” In keeping with Austin, the Litecoin improvement crew primarily focuses on three efforts: onboarding enterprise partnerships, retailers and outreach for the Litecoin Card debit card.
“If you use stablecoins to pay for items, in actuality, all you’re doing is utilizing a digital model of fiat cash. Cryptocurrencies are risky, however no middlemen are taking a hefty fee or scrutinizing your transactions.”
With the launch of Litecoin’s new privateness layer, Austin mentioned that the coin has turn out to be extra user-friendly for these eager on defending their information. “It affords fungibility,” he mentioned. “If you go to pay with a bank card or exhausting money, the service provider doesn’t know the way a lot money you’ve obtained in your pocket, nor your checking account. However, say, in case you pay with Bitcoin, everybody can see that transaction and your pockets stability on the blockchain.” Austin explains that the brand new privateness layer on prime of Litecoin solves the issue. “We’re permitting customers to cover their tackle and stability quantity when making funds. And it’s actually helpful for safeguarding individuals’s privateness, such when receiving their payroll in crypto.”
Lastly, for Austin, the thought of Litecoin lies in its evolution as a brand new technique of fee and never a lot in capitalizing on the most recent developments within the business. “Our objective proper now could be to form of construct gradual. We’ve been right here for years, and we’ve seen that in case you transfer too quick, the challenge can implode on itself. So, we’re sticking to our objective of creating Litecoin as a greater fee.”