We put the two largest Bitcoin forks head to head to see which one comes out better and which presents the best opportunity for investment. Both Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash are fully established Bitcoin offshoots and both have their own merits. Confused about which one to invest in?
Our comparison gives you the full rundown.
What are the Differences Between Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash?
First off, aside from some differences in performance, there is very little to split Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin in terms of functionality. All ultimately use the Bitcoin blockchain and each fork aims to address an issue such as transaction time or scalability.
In the case of Bitcoin Cash, it was a fork aimed at reducing costs associated with transacting Bitcoin. Because Bitcoin isn’t very scalable, fees were growing increasingly as the blockchain grew. This annoyed a group of Bitcoin users and Bitcoin Cash was their solution.
Litecoin aimed to make transacting faster and has a block time of 2.5 minutes compared to Bitcoin’s 10 minutes.
Aside from these areas, both coins work similarly if not identically to Bitcoin.
Which has the Better Outlook?
Both Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin prices are majorly affected by Bitcoin performance. If Bitcoin does well the rule of thumb is that Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash prices will increase too. Of course, if Bitcoin performs poorly then the altcoins it spawned don’t perform very well either.
The influence of Bitcoin price on the forked coins is not the only factor that affect the price of Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash. Litecoin is more difficult to mine which makes it a less attractive proposition to mining communities. Bitcoin Cash is relatively new and hasn’t been trading for any meaningful length of time, it is in many ways still riding the coattails of its launch.
Other altcoins function well outside of the Bitcoin bubble, but both Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash rely on Bitcoin’s success for their own success purely because most people find their way to becoming Bitcoin Cash or Litecoin users after going through the Bitcoin gateway.
Which has the Better Price?
Currently Bitcoin Cash has the better price but it is by far the most volatile of the two. The coin was gifted to Bitcoin users in an attempt to pry them away from Bitcoin. This caused an inflation in value before Bitcoin users (who for the most part saw Bitcoin Cash as useless) sold off coins en masse. This means that it has traded previously at thousands of dollars, now it trades at hundreds.
Litecoin has always remained a fairly steady coin and the pricing has never been earth shattering. It has reached around $400 in value but trades comfortably between $50 and $100 most of the time. In this respect, Litecoin is by past performance a much safer bet.
Once Bitcoin Cash has a few more years trading, the price should stop spiking and falling like it does and a more consistent price pattern should emerge. The currency is still quite young and has a long way to go.
