Shytoshi Kusama, lead developer and one of the main actors of the Shiba Inu (SHIB) project, recently addressed Bloomberg Business with a request to stop referring to Litecoin (LTC) as the third option after Bitcoin (BTC) and Etherium (ETH) when it comes to cryptocurrencies. Litecoin did not stand aside and responded to Kusama's mockery with a remark that LTC should be the first on the list.
You're right, should be first.
— Litecoin (@litecoin) July 16, 2022
It was indeed like that when cryptocurrencies were first gaining popularity back in the 2010s, but by now LTC is rather considered a zombie coin on par with EOS and XRP. While it once was one of the top three cryptocurrencies, Litecoin is currently ranked 20th by market capitalization at $3.9 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.
Litecoin (LTC) experiences lack of demand and interest
Many crypto analysts believe this is due to an extremely low demand and user interest in the Litecoin blockchain and the LTC token, respectively. Despite continuing development, regular conferences and mining activity, it seems that Litecoin has never been able to get out from under the shadow of its more successful competitors. The likes of SHIB and DOGE or SOL have simply overtaken LTC in the past couple of years, harnessing the power of social media and fanning a global-scale hype.
At the same time, few people know that Litecoin remains almost the only blockchain that has never stopped working, unlike the same Solana (SOL). Litecoin also successfully introduced the MimbleWimble extension, which allowed it to become more private by hiding the sender's name and the number of tokens being sent, but, as a result, major South Korean exchanges decided to delist LTC.
The estimate of 3.9 billion seems very low for Litecoin, being such a time-proven crypto project, but its team obviously needs to do something about the market interest and the demand, otherwise LTC will never manage to get rid of the zombie project status.
Tomiwabold Olajide
Vladislav Sopov
Dan Burgin