Litecoin (LTC) is becoming one of the most popular cryptocurrencies for online purchasing as digital assets become more prevalent in the e-commerce sector.
In 2022, Litecoin was the fourth most popular cryptocurrency used as a payment option for online purchasing, with 88,295 LTC-involved orders representing 9.5% of total crypto payments processed by CoinGate. Litecoin ranked behind Bitcoin (BTC), followed by Tether (USDT) and Ethereum (ETH).
According to the report, Litecoin payments for last year increased by over 6% compared to 2021 (83,620). January 2022 marked the highest monthly use of LTC to purchase products and services, with 8,971 orders.
The report also indicated that usage of the thirteenth-ranked crypto by market capitalisation has increased since June 2022. In December of the previous year, for example, payments involving LTC reached 7,968, a change of over 11% from June, the month with the fewest orders at 6,717.
The study puts Litecoin’s high position as a payment option down to network performance and transaction fees. According to CoinGate:
“There are a few notable reasons for it. First, Litecoin transaction fees are meager, making it a decent currency for online shopping, no matter the payment size. Currently, the average transaction cost revolves around a mere $0.0070 per transaction. Secondly, Litecoin is fast as it takes only 2.5 minutes for miners to mine a block of transactions, compared to 10 minutes for the Bitcoin blockchain“.
CoinGate also provided information regarding the transaction amounts for specific orders. On CoinGate, the biggest LTC cart ever contained items worth €20,641 or 312,89 LTC at the time. Elsewhere, the least cart was 0.0009 LTC.
According to a previous Finbold report, a CoinGate survey indicated that the volume of crypto payments in e-commerce increased by over 60% in 2022.
Indeed, Litecoin has been predominantly compared to Bitcoin as the milder counterpart of the pioneering cryptocurrency. Litecoin is currently the most popular cryptocurrency before the halving event. At press time, the price of LTC was $97.71.
