My Case for Litecoin, Part I

“Life is simple, but we insist on making it complicated.”-Confucious

There are a lot of interesting flashy projects out there in the crypto space. Flashy sells, but tends to fall short because all of the energy is consumed in trying to convince people of the magic that’s underneath the shine. Many blockchain projects are looking to disrupt multiple layers of our everyday life. That gives the space a very compelling story, but isn’t the purpose and function of Bitcoin enough? The peer-to-peer secured and verified transaction open source code simple in its directive, but mighty in its application. Sending money to anyone anywhere in the world securely without a trusted third party has revolutionized our money transmitting problems. It wasn’t slowly phased into society due to some overpriced patent. Bitcoin opened up the possibility to move money seamlessly across the globe. Like many others, Charlie Lee discovered Bitcoin and instantly fell in love with this new decentralized protocol. Early on, instead of trying to disrupt other areas of society by mimicking Bitcoin; Charlie Lee simply sought out to improve upon the daily function of Bitcoin that may have been overlooked at the time of its inception. No fault to Satoshi Nakamoto, his revolutionary white paper and source code covered more than imaginable, and while extremely thorough, it’s not a quick or easy read.  Litecoin however, was created as a solution to the micro transaction speed and fee issue that Bitcoin was poised to face. I have the utmost faith in what Litecoin is attempting to accomplish, because I see it as a useful means for everyday micro transactions such as purchasing americanos three times a day at Starbucks. The thread that connects the Litecoin community to its goals, mission, and vision, is simplicity. From its technology, to the terminology, to the various types of coins, to even the concept of cold storage, the crypto world can be confusing and overwhelming to the average person. I know when I first entered into the crypto space, I was quickly overwhelmed with all of the different cryptos and their roadmaps with objectives stacked on top of objectives. And I vividly recall during that time, finding Litecoin and feeling relief as I was able to easily grasp the concept. I used, https://youtu.be/q7B7S88RtV8 to teach me about the concrete and easily digestible purpose of Litecoin:  a day-to-day currency used for micro transactions as a solution for merchants to accept electronic payments without exorbitant fees. 

I am clearly a huge proponent of widespread cryptocurrency adoption and I see many uses for its practical application.  Not only does it excite me to think about what the space and market will look like in 1, 3, 5, and 10 years from now, but it also makes me reflective about the role money played in my life over the years.  For example, in college I used to overdraw my account… a lot. Luckily, I had a safety net parent willing to transfer money over to my account. However, I remember one time in particular, I had overdrawn my account on a Thursday. I didn’t realize it until Friday, after my hangover allowed me to function properly, to check my account to see the damage that had been done. To my chagrin, I partied a little too hard. After pleading to my mother to at least cover the overdraft fee, we contacted the bank to try to make the transfer. Because it was a Friday afternoon, the customer service representative informed us that the money wouldn’t post until the following Tuesday. Subjecting my account to penalties throughout the weekend. I won’t be getting into the criminal activity of the bank by charging me everyday, but what is most frustrating is that this was in 2008. I mean, if we really think about technology, at that time, we had the capacity to fly a plane from the center of the United States across the globe to be able to bomb a country back into the stone ages and return safely to its origin airbase yet we had to wait 4 days for a payment to post. So why do I share this? Because crypto allows me to be my own bank and I don’t have to worry about fees. I also can’t overdraft with crypto, as I would immediately been told that I have insufficient funds for said transaction. Another great thing crypto is that it has brought us the capability to transact and settle transactions 24/7/365. If banks actually adopted blockchain and cryptos, perhaps they could have transactions settle over the weekend, helping individuals avoid excessive unnecessary overdraft fees. While I take full accountability for my poor money management skills, I can’t help but think about how crypto, specifically Litecoin, can and will change the way we experience money transactions.