Litecoin Looking for Mainstream Adoption with CoinGate Partnership

Litecoin (LTC) might be set to receive some much needed mainstream exposure in 2019 thanks to a recent partnership with CoinGate. The crypto payment platform has been officially announced as the official processor for Litecoin. For those looking to buy LTC online, the move could result in a brief price spike as we move into December. However, it’s the long-term future of Litecoin that could benefit from the latest move.

For those already invested in Charlie Lee’s blockchain, CoinGate is nothing new. After giving businesses a way to integrate Bitcoin payment options into their platforms, CoinGate has gone on to add 50 digital tokens over the last four years. Litecoin has been one of those additions, but the new deal will see the relationship between the two companies taken to a new level and, potentially, the price of LTC improve in the coming months.

CoinGate Could be a Bolt of Lightning for Litecoin’s Fortune

Under the terms of the new deal, CoinGate will not only promote LTC but start to use the Lightning Network to facilitate certain transactions. With Litecoin now propping up the off-chain payment network, this should give the digital coin a much greater standing in the crypto industry as a whole. While that’s a positive for insiders, the wider implications of the partnership could make LTC a default payment method for general consumers.

Already this year, we’ve seen Litecoin forged some interesting partnerships. Working with the Gemini Exchange has made it easier for traders to buy Litecoin. Beyond that, the recent association with crypto loan platform SALT has give the token some more utility. However, neither of these deals have made it easier for consumers to go online, find a product and pay for it using LTC. By strengthening its ties with CoinGate, the crypto will now be able to do that. Although true mainstream adoption is a few years away, this is another step in the right direction.

Centralisation Could be an Issue

The only potential downside to the new deal is that it raises the question of centralisation. Because CoinGate holds coins on a user’s behalf, the platform is a central authority in itself. In practice, this won’t make Litecoin a centralised product. However, the ways in which its used by the masses could have an element of centralisation to it. The counter to this, however, is that centralisation is something the general public is still conditioned to accept. Telling someone who doesn’t know anything about cryptos that no one is there to oversee any mistaken payments will raise alarm bells.

Therefore, by CoinGate providing a bridge between the two worlds, it could ease general users into a new way of paying for goods and services using Litecoin. Naturally, this doesn’t guarantee that LTC will moon in 2019. What’s clear though is that it’s good news for anyone that currently owns this digital coin or is wanting to learn how to buy LTC in the coming weeks.

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