Looks like a SlipperySlope.
Hah.
But really, where do you guys see this ending?
I don't really follow LTC.
In the longish fun (at least long for crypto), it seems pretty obvious to me that Litecoin will not be the #2 crypto. But that's always seemed obvious to me, and it's been #2 for longer than I expected... I tend to be early with my investment theses, thinking others will very quickly see what I see, but it often turns out to take painfully (and unprofitably) longer than I expect.
But I do think the tide is finally turning. There are now plenty of coins that actually do something different than bitcoin. Almost all will completely fail to gain any sort of traction (because their "innovation" proves false or of little value), but a couple that fill meaningful niches will likely shine through, ultimately. There's no reason for Litecoin, which does NOT fill any bitcoin-distinct technical niche whatsoever, to remain the dominant alt. Thankfully others are (finally) realizing this.
It's a shame that we actually had to plod through to two inevitabilities, which have been obvious since 2012, to trigger litecoin's decline, but we finally have them:
1) The production of scrypt ASICs
It's been apparent to anyone with at least 1/3 of a brain that any successful coin with a PoW security alg will eventually converge to industrial-scale mining dynamics. It all, eventually, comes down to energy cost and economies of scale. Litecoiners were very annoying for a year or two running their mouths about how the mining alg was different and ASICs wouldn't be a thing in litecoinland for many many years, if ever... Well, here they are. Obviously.
2) The introduction of *potentially* interesting features in various other coins. It was inevitable that this would happen, and now that people can see that empirically, it's tougher to find any meaningful technical arguments for litecoin.
I should note that I don't begrudge the existence of litecoin by any means; it was inevitable that someone would forktweak bitcoin, and litecoin did that first (with a fair launch, etc). It's been an interesting experiment. One that, IMO, has empirically demonstrated the potential for crowds and markets to act irrationally far longer than many theoreticians would argue should be the case. That in and of itself is a valuable lesson.
