There are plenty of reasons traders and investors want to exchange Litecoin for bitcoin. Considered a Bitcoin clone, Litecoin is one of the most stable top altcoins on the market. Our guide will walk you through the process of exchanging this coin for bitcoin, while also discussing the benefits of exchanging your Litecoin for the leading cryptocurrency of all time
If you want to exchange Litecoin for Bitcoin you must:
- Check out the exchange rates and go with an exchange that offers reasonable fees
- Sign up with a reputable cryptocurrency exchange and go through the sign-up and verification process.
- Have a digital wallet for both Litecoin and Bitcoin
- Head to the exchange portion of the cryptocurrency exchange and choose the amount of Litecoin you want to exchange for Bitcoin
- Hit the exchange button
- Wait for the transaction to clear. The amount of time it will take for a transaction to clear can vary from platform to platform.
Exchanging your altcoins for Bitcoins is a fast and easy process, especially if you already have a trusted cryptocurrency exchange in mind. On average, the entire process will take approximately fifteen minutes, making it easy for new investors to quickly exchange their altcoins for Bitcoins.
A Simple Process
Litecoin is not only less volatile than Bitcoin and more affordable it’s also very liquid with a price that’s accessible for even the investors on a budget. But while Litecoin does indeed offer many benefits and in some ways, is considered better than bitcoin, there will be a time you need to exchange your Litecoin for bitcoin. If you’re new to cryptocurrency and the exchange process, we’ll guide you through each of the steps, all of which are fairly straightforward, if you choose the best cryptocurrency exchange.
Coinbase
The Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange is one of the leading exchanges around. It features an intuitive user interface, so signing up for an account and a digital wallet is a breeze. The lower than average exchange rates and the fact that Coinbase can be used all over the world are just a few reasons this exchange is considered one of the most valued and reliable around, and the perfect choice if you want to make a quick exchange.
Exchanging Cryptocurrency
If you’ve signed up with Coinbase, verified your account, and have Litecoin and Bitcoin digital wallets, then you’re ready to go.
First, choose the amount of Litecoin you’ll be exchanging, then follow the prompts. At this point, you will need to enter the address for your Bitcoin wallet.
The next step is hitting that exchange button, then sitting back and waiting for the transaction to clear. The amount of time it takes for the exchange to clear can depend on the exchange and the blockchain. Some transactions can clear in a matter of minutes, while others will take several hours.
Keep in mind, even if the transaction is complete, a digital wallet may need additional confirmations in order to display the received funds.
This simple process allows you to quickly exchange your altcoin for bitcoin, but considering the volatility of the market, and bitcoin’s reputation as the first and best cryptocurrency, it’s not surprising that investors often cash in their Litecoin for the higher priced Bitcoin.
But is this exchange smart or will you regret your decision the next time Bitcoin dips in price? If you’re determined to make this exchange, before you do so, make sure you do your research and look at current market prices. The Litecoin to Bitcoin rate will not immediately follow the dollar price of Litecoin. There may also be instances in which you’re selling at a larger or smaller loss.
Trading can be the best option if you need to move large amounts of Litecoin. This is especially true for full-time traders who possess the right type of account, one that allows for a higher weekly and/or monthly trading volume.
Choose a Trusted Cryptocurrency Exchange
There’s no shortage of exchanges that delve in Litecoin to Bitcoin exchanges. However, choose the exchange carefully. The rates can vary from exchange to exchange, so make sure you compare prices before committing to an exchange. Since many of the biggest and baddest exchanges tend to get hit by cyber-attacks from time to time, you must also avoid keeping any coin in an exchange’s digital wallet. These wallets are designed to make trading and exchanges simpler and faster, but they should never be used to store your bitcoin.
The Beginner Investor
Several years ago, a man named Charles Lee, a former engineer for Google, created Litecoin. The idea behind this was to create a cryptocurrency that was more stable and less volatile than bitcoin. Considering Litecoin shares almost all of its code with bitcoin, and many improvements, many investors believe that Litecoin will be the wave of the future and a coin that will eventually take down bitcoin. In fact, Litecoin currently has two percent of the entire market by market capitalization, which is saying a lot in a market that is dominated by bitcoin, the most well-known cryptocurrency.
Despite hard data that shows us that Litecoin will continue to climb, there are diehard Bitcoin investors who focus on buying up as many Bitcoins as possible.
In terms of design, there are only a few characteristics that make this altcoin different from bitcoin. Each of these differences was meant to make Litecoin a better option for everyday use. These differences include more frequently mined blocks, more coins overall, and a different hashing algorithm. Another huge plus for this altcoin is how much easier it is to mine compared to Bitcoin’s complex blockchain. Blockchain time for Litecoin is also said to be significantly shorter.
But for the beginner who doesn’t know much about the market and cryptocurrency mining, exchanging Litecoin to Bitcoin seems like a solid investment. In truth, these days Bitcoin is not as stable as it was just five years ago, allowing Litecoin to take the lead as the more stable cryptocurrency in such a volatile market.
Related Questions
Transfer Litecoin to Bitcoin Coinbase
Wherever you go, regardless of the cryptocurrency exchange you choose, the process of exchanging one cryptocurrency for another will be the same. The only major difference is the rates.
We briefly touched on Coinbase earlier, one of the leading exchanges on the market. Like many other exchanges, the process for transferring your coins on that particular platform is simple and easy. They also offer more reasonable exchange rates compared to competing platforms, which is just one of the many reasons they’ve been killing it in terms of user ratings. With just a few clicks you can quickly exchange a variety of altcoins for bitcoin.
Litecoin Wallet
A Litecoin wallet is simply a digital wallet that’s dedicated to storing and securing your Litecoin currency. Each type of cryptocurrency has their own specific digital wallet. But unlike a cryptocurrency exchange, with this type of wallet, you can only store a specific cryptocurrency. These wallets are free and very easy to use.
How Long Do Litecoin Transfers Usually Take?
On average, a Litecoin transfer can take five to ten minutes, but there have been cases in which the total transaction time ranged from four to six hours. During this time, the transaction is confirmed on the blockchain. This type of confirmation usually depends on the specific blockchain, such as the Monero blockchain, or Bitcoin blockchain. Bitcoin’s blockchain is known to take several hours for a confirmation. Ultimately, it will all boil down to what type of crypto you’re exchanging your Litecoin for and how congested the blockchain is at the time of the transaction.
Is Litecoin Better Than Bitcoin?
Like we discussed above, Litecoin is said to be almost identical to bitcoin, with its differences focusing on bitcoin’s flaws. Many experienced investors do believe that Litecoin is the future and the cryptocurrency that will finally bring Bitcoin to its knees. New investors, those who aren’t familiar with Litecoin or other leading altcoins typically tend to go with Bitcoin, simply because they haven’t done their market research and instead focus solely on current market prices.
If you’d like to learn more about the crypto market and how to research current prices and check out market data, click here to read our Cryptocurrency Codex review. This is a program that’s designed for beginners who need a crash course on how the cryptocurrency market really works.
Final Thoughts
When you exchange Litecoin for bitcoin, all you really need is an account with a reputable cryptocurrency exchange, a digital wallet for your Litecoin and one for your Bitcoin and some market knowledge. If you’ve shopped around at checked out transaction fees with many of the major exchanges and finally made your choice, then you should be ready to make the exchange. You must enter in the address of your Bitcoin wallet, and enter in the amount of Litecoin in your crypto exchange account that you want to exchange for bitcoin. While the funds may not pop up for several hours, the transaction itself takes place in a matter of minutes. Later on, once the additional transaction confirmations have been made, via the Bitcoin blockchain, you’ll see your new Bitcoins pop up in your wallet. And that’s really all there is to it.
