How and Where to Buy Litecoin (LTC) – An Easy Step by Step Guide

Buying Litecoin is very easy these days. If you want, you can use cash, card – even PayPal! However, you still need to follow a few steps to do this - that's why we've made this tutorial easy for you! It is separated into parts – just follow the one that matches your purchase method.

What is Litecoin (LTC)?

Litecoin (LTC) is a cryptocurrency that was designed to provide fast, secure and low-cost payments by leveraging the unique properties of blockchain technology. To learn more about this project, check out here.

The cryptocurrency was created based on the Bitcoin (BTC) protocol, but it differs in terms of the hashing algorithm used, hard cap, block transaction times and a few other factors. Litecoin has a block time of just 2.5 minutes and extremely low transaction fees, making it suitable for micro-transactions and point-of-sale payments.

Litecoin was released via an open-source client on GitHub on Oct. 7, 2011, it has exploded in both usage and acceptance among merchants and has counted among the top ten cryptocurrencies by market capitalization for most of its existence.

The cryptocurrency was created by Charlie Lee, a former Google employee, who intended Litecoin to be a "lite version of Bitcoin," in that it features many of the same properties as Bitcoin—albeit lighter in weight.

At the time of writing this article the CoinMarketCap ranking is #22, with a live market cap of $10,204,161,781 USD. It has a circulating supply of 69,434,969 LTC coins and a max. supply of 84,000,000 LTC coins.

How to buy Litecoin with credit card or debit card?

No matter what people say, it's easy to buy Litecoin with a credit card. Your first step will always be to buy Bitcoins or Ethereum with your credit card. They can then be converted to Litecoin. Follow these steps: Buy Bitcoin or Ethereum on an exchange you like. Transfer Bitcoin or Ethereum to an exchange that supports Litecoin currency. Finally, exchange Bitcoin or Ethereum for Litecoin. Please follow our step-by-step guide below to buy Litecoin.

1. Create a Coinbase account

To buy Ethereum from Coinbase – which you will exchange for Litecoin (LTC) later – you need to create a Coinbase account.

Click on the 'subscribe' button and fill in the form. Enter your name (it has to be exactly the same as what is written on your photo ID), email, password and location. Coinbase is regulated by the US government and follows strict financial rules. As such, they need to verify your identity. It takes some time and effort, however, this makes Coinbase reputed to be the most reliable way to convert regular currency to cryptocurrency.

Verify Coinbase account

As Coinbase needs to verify your account, you must provide your phone number, upload a picture of your photo ID and verify your card (credit or debit) or account back. Only then will you be able to buy cryptocurrencies. If you use a card on Coinbase, your fees will be higher, but your purchases will be instant. It's cheaper to use bank transfers, but it's slow - it can take up to a week to receive your coins. When your payment details are verified, click on the 'buy/sell' button in the top menu.

Select 'Ethereum' and enter how much money you want to spend/how many coins you want to buy in the windows at the bottom of the page. Once this is done, click on the 'Buy' button. Now you will have to confirm your purchase. Do this by pressing the 'Confirm purchase' button. You now own some Ethereum. However, don't close Coinbase just yet – we'll use it later!

2. Exchange your Ethereum for Litecoin (LTC)

As we mentioned, you need to exchange your Ethereum for Litecoin. In our tutorial, we will use Binance as the site to exchange Ethereum for Litecoin. Click this link to go to Binance and click 'Register' in the upper right corner.

3. Create a Binance account

To register, you must enter your email and a password (stronger passwords are better). Make sure you are not a bot, check “I agree to Binance Terms of Use” and click 'Register'. An email will be sent to confirm your email address. Click the link in the email to continue. Clicking the link will take you back to Binance and confirm your email address. Press 'Enter'. You will now be directed to a login form. Enter the email address you used to sign up and the password and press 'Login'.

A popup will appear to advise you to set up 2FA – two-factor authentication – on your account. Do this to protect your money – even if a hacker gets your password from Binance, the second level of verification will almost certainly stop them from logging into your account. Our recommendation is to use Authy app available on your smartphone or web browser.

4. Get Ready to Transfer Ethereum from Coinbase to Binance

Hover over 'FUNDS' in the top menu and click on 'Deposits'. The new screen will show you how many coins you have stored on Binance – you currently have none. Type 'Ethereum' in the search box. Find Ethereum in this list. Click on 'Deposit' You will receive a long string of numbers and letters - this is your Ethereum deposit address.

Copy this address and save/write it somewhere safe. You will need it soon. Note: Make sure you have actually selected Ethereum (ETH) – sending your coins to the wrong wallet will destroy them. if you send your coins to the wrong wallet, you will lose them.

5.Transfer Ethereum from Coinbase to Binance

Go back to Coinbase. If you followed our advice, it should still be open. Click on 'Accounts' in the top menu bar and find your Ethereum wallet on the left. Click 'Submit'. Paste/write to Binance's Ethereum wallet address in the 'Recipient' box. In the amount box, enter the amount of Ethereum you want to transfer (if you want to send it all, use the 'use max' option). Click 'Continue'. Coinbase may request a password/phone confirmation.

Follow the instructions and Coinbase will confirm that the Ethereum coins have been sent. You will have to wait a few minutes for the Ethereum coins to be moved to Binance. It typically takes between 20 and 60 minutes for coins to appear in your Binance wallet. This depends on network load and may take longer during peak hours. Do not panic. Binance will update automatically – you don't need to refresh the page.

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6. Exchange Ethereum for Litecoin (LTC)

Once Ethereum appears in your 'available balance' on Binance, you are ready to exchange it for Litecoin. Go straight to the LTC/ETH exchange on Binance. Do not panic! Not everything on the trade page is important to us. Let's just use a small part of it. You can buy coins in two ways: 'Limit' order: you can set the price at which you want to buy LTC. 'Market' purchase: automatically fills your order at the best available price. Buying on the market is simpler, so let's use that.

Find the big green 'Buy LTC' button. Click on the 'Market' option in the window above the button. Fill in the amount of LTC you want to buy in the input box labeled 'Amount'. You can use the percentage buttons below the box to make the process easier. For example, if you want to exchange 50% of your Ethereum for LTC, click on the 50% button. After entering the desired amount in the box, press the buy button. Your order will be processed immediately.

7. Check your Litecoin (LTC) balance

Now you have to click on 'Funds' in the menu bar at the top and then go to 'Balances'. Type LTC in the search box. This will display the amount of LTC you now have in your LTC Binance Wallet. You can now leave your coins on Binance where they should be reasonably safe. However, exchange site hacks happen and people are robbed of their money. We recommend keeping your coins in a personal wallet.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I buy Litecoin with PayPal?

You cannot purchase Litecoin directly with PayPal at this time. If you want to use PayPal, you will have to buy bitcoin first and then exchange bitcoins for LTC using a service like Binance.

Can I buy LTC with cash?

You cannot buy Litecoin directly with cash. Even though some ATMs support Litecoin, they are less than 1% of all cryptocurrency ATMs. If you want to buy with cash, you will have to buy bitcoin first and then exchange bitcoins for LTC using a service like Binance.

Can I buy Litecoin with Bitcoin?

Yes, you can easily do this using Binance to exchange bitcoins for Litecoin.

Can I buy LTC with Skrill

Europeans can use BitPanda to buy bitcoins or Ethereum with Skrill. Ethereum or BTC can be converted to Litecoin on Binance.

Can I buy Litecoin with Ethereum

Yes, you can easily do this using Binance to exchange Ethereum for Litecoin.

What is the best payment method to use?

The cheapest way to do this is to buy bitcoins with a bank account (or Litecoin directly with a bank account) and exchange BTC for Litecoin. The fastest way is to buy Litecoin with a credit card, but higher fees will be charged.

How can I secure LTC after I buy it?

You must store your Litecoin in a secure wallet. Leaving Litecoin on an exchange only puts you at risk of losing money if the exchange is hacked. Your account can also be hacked, so it's important to use 2FA.

How can I sell Litecoin (LTC)?

Binance and changelly are good places to exchange your LTC for any other cryptocurrency. If you want to exchange it for regular currency, exchange LTC for bitcoin and exchange BTC for dollars, euros or other currencies.