How to Buy Litecoin? The Easiest Way

Having read our explainer of the differences between litecoin and bitcoin, you may be interested in buying some of bitcoin’s more agile siblings. How To Buy Litecoin?

(*Please, never invest more than you can afford to lose – cryptocurrencies are volatile and the price could go down as well as up. )

Storing your litecoin

Before buying litecoin, you’ll need somewhere to store it.

The original wallet for this cryptocurrency is Litecoin Core, which you can install (for free) on your desktop. However, this downloads the entire litecoin blockchain, so you’ll need to make sure you have enough storage (and patience).

Electrum-LTC is a lighter (SPV, or Simpler Payment Verification) version, also for desktop. And some desktop wallets (such as Jaxx and Exodus) have multi-coin capability, which means you can hold your bitcoin and litecoin in the same place.

Loafwallet is a mobile litecoin storage solution, developed by Charlie Lee, the creator of Litecoin.

For those who prefer a hardware version, Trezor and the Ledger Nano support a handful of cryptocurrencies, including Litecoin.

And there are even paper wallets for litecoin, such as Liteaddress.

Fiat or bitcoin?

Buying litecoin is similar to buying bitcoin – most major exchanges today trade in both, in exchange for a wire transfer, or a credit or debit card payment. The list of currencies with which you can buy litecoin has grown significantly over the past year (but strangely does not yet include British pounds, according to CryptoCompare).

Bitfinex, Bitstamp, Poloniex and Coinbase are some of the more liquid litecoin exchanges.

Most litecoin purchases, however, are made with bitcoin. Some of the more liquid exchanges that can handle a BTC/LTC transaction are Shapeshift, Poloniex, Bitfinex and Bitstamp.