I will give them (well… Warren) a bit of credit for improving some security issues on both Litecoin and Bitcoin, but they do not see the glaring issue in that the end users don’t actually ever see these improvements. Nor do they particularly care… what I mean by that is… Have any of you ever had a problem because of a security issue in the Litecoin/Bitcoin client? I would be surprised to hear one person tell me yes they have, as after using it for years I haven’t and most cases that pop up seem to be user error.
However, with a technology so new and relatively "fragile," even one significant security flaw will implicitly mean death. Think about it, when was the last time you've heard of the central system of a bank or brokerage being broken in to? By this I mean, someone directly siphoning funds from the internal system, not someone doing an XSS exploit and retrieving user information; the later is akin to someone getting their PC hacked which happens quite regularly in the crypto-currency realm.
Due to rapid technological advancements and the competition being innovative and forward thinking (seeing a pattern here?), companies can become obsolete very fast and I see no reason why this does not (or could not) hold true with crypto currencies.
Although I can see where you are going with this, it's akin to saying a scripted language or specific productivity program becoming obsolete. Despite there being many choices, the big guns have by and large stood fast (major adoption or transitions between programming languages rarely happens, and although there have got to be at least 5 alternatives to MS Office, MS Office is by and far the kingpin despite spending years between significant enhancements even during this time of swift pace).
That said, I know full well that saying this frankly more to Bitcoin than to Litecoin; and appealing to the "longevity" of Litecoin is a mummer's farce. But it is also indicative of the "trust" that more and more places are placing into a select few crypto-currencies.
Although Litecoin may be accepted by more exchanges and merchants than other alternative crypto currencies, the more innovative and valuable ones are sure to follow. Multi coin payment processing is going to become more popular as more coins come out. Having a different payment processor for every crypto currency is just not a smart way of doing things, and the ones that only accept one or two crypto currencies will be less popular with merchants over time.
This is very true; with the way technology in the crypto-currency scene has evolved, we are heading to a point where a swath of coins will be easily available for processing. The problem is the relative volatility which will either hinder user's acceptance in dealing with certain coins or with the payment processor's risk.
Yes Litecoin’s network speed dwarfs that of other Scrypt coins, and it is likely much more secure than those. However, I think it is silly to focus on only Scrypt coins.
Although it is "silly" to focus only on SHA-256 and sCrypt, they have leaps and bounds more security analysis than many of the newer coins that just pastes a bunch of other algorithms with significantly less security vetting. In either case, an invested network is harder to bring down, but it isn't impossible (after all, parts of the crypto-currency scene reminds me of the .com bubble in the early 2000's).
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I'll be honest, your assessment on a lot of the other points are quite fair and well-reasoned. I actually see the volume of LTC actually being too high for comfort at times. And just like the BTC Association, does anyone particularly care about Litecoin's? Finally, the only plus side I see with the faster confirmation times is that it aligns with LTC's vision of being the transactor to Bitcoin's slower times; but on that point, there are a plethora of other coins that can take that place.
Nonetheless, with the investment and security built and developed in LTC, I more think it's on a medium-term decline rather than on it's death bed. Over a year and a half ago, there was a much bleaker prospectus for Litecoin with significantly less development and infrastructure; combining everything, I don't see Litecoin on it's way out. If anything, LTC grew much too fast during the November rally and things are just evening out.