How and Where to Buy Litecoin (LTC) with a Credit Card

Introduced in 2011 as the “silver to Bitcoin’s gold,” investors often buy Litecoin as a way of diversifying their portfolio beyond Bitcoin. It differs from Satoshi’s creation in a few ways, despite having originated as a fork of the Bitcoin blockchain. Litecoin has a shorter block production time, is far more abundant, and uses a different mining algorithm.

The price of Litecoin has tended to follow similar market trends to Bitcoin over the years, and it’s consistently occupied a position in the top ten ranked cryptocurrencies. So, unlike many of the lesser-known and newer altcoins, Litecoin is unlikely to disappear into illiquid obscurity.

If you want to buy Litecoin, and fast, then a credit card is usually the best way to go. Although many platforms impose an upper limit on purchasing cryptocurrency with a credit card, it’s a very easy way to get your hands on Litecoin quickly these days.

So, if you’re ready to buy some Litecoin, and you have your credit card at the ready, what are the quickest options available to you?

Using a custodian to buy Litecoin with a credit card is a great choice if you’re new to cryptocurrency, or if you don’t like the idea of having to keep your private keys safe. Many people get nervous about losing private keys. You can write them down and keep them somewhere safe, but what if you lose them, or they get destroyed in a fire?

A recent report estimates that as many as 1.4 million Bitcoins are “zombie” coins, thought to be lost to their owners. To avoid these risks, many people opt to use a custodian when buying cryptocurrencies.

Another advantage of a custodial service is that it avoids the risk of hacks that have pained many exchanges and their users. No exchange seems to be immune to hacks - even crypto giant Binance was hit earlier this year, with hackers making off with $40 million worth of coins. Using a custodian offsets this risk, as they take care of your cryptos on your behalf.

Skrill is one example of a custodian where you can buy Litecoin using your credit card, in an instant transaction. The company offers a range of payment services, which includes buying and selling various cryptocurrencies using a credit card or a bank transfer.

It’s very easy to use, even if you’re unfamiliar with cryptocurrencies. You simply create an account, fund it with your credit card, and then you can buy Litecoin, Bitcoin, XRP, and many other cryptocurrencies with a few mouse clicks. You can even set up monthly recurring cryptocurrency purchases or send payments to other Skrill users.

Despite the hacking risk, exchanges are often the first port of call for people wanting to buy cryptocurrencies. Exchanges usually offer the lowest fees compared to other services, and if you want to get into obscure altcoins, then it’s likely that you’ll need to make a trade via an exchange. Although, obscure altcoins aren’t usually available for purchase with fiat currency, including credit cards.

Fortunately, Litecoin isn’t an obscure cryptocurrency, so there are plenty of options for buying it with a credit card. However, one of the most secure is Coinbase. The company has been around for many years now, it’s a regulated exchange, and all user funds are insured. This makes it one of the most trusted exchanges in the cryptocurrency industry.

To some extent, Coinbase and other centralized exchanges have some crossover with custodians, because you don’t get access to your private keys, just an exchange account. However, exchanges usually offer more trading options than custodians if you want to trade between different cryptocurrencies or set up particular buy or sell strategies.

A brokerage service works slightly differently to an exchange. When you buy via an exchange, your purchase goes into an order book, and the exchange looks for a sell order to match your buy order. So, in an illiquid exchange with low volumes, you may have to wait to have your order filled. A brokerage trades via a network of dealers, meaning your order can always be settled quickly.

CEX.io is one example of a brokerage where you can buy Litecoin with a credit card. The platform consistently receives positive ratings from the cryptocurrency community for being beginner-friendly and easy to use. However, the fees are quite high. It can cost as much as 7% of your transaction to buy via CEX.

Each option comes with advantages and disadvantages. However, the good news is that at this stage in the evolution of cryptocurrency, there are now more ways than ever to buy Litecoin and other cryptocurrencies quickly and painlessly using a credit card.