In today’s “Crypto for Advisors” newsletter, Josh Olszewicz From Canary Capital drops Litecoin from its history to its growth.
Then, in “Ask an expert”, Billy Luedtke of the institution, answering questions about decentralized finance and its growth.
Thanks to our newsletter sponsor this week, Grayscale. For financial advisors near Denver, Grayscale is hosting an exclusive event, Crypto Connect, on Thursday, October 23. Learn more.
Litecoin: A resilient digital asset for the long term
is one of the oldest and most established cryptocurrencies still in active use. Created in October 2011 by former google engineer Charlie Lee, Litecoin was launched as a source-code fork of Bitcoin. While Bitcoin pioneered decentralized digital currency, Litecoin seeks to improve upon its design by offering faster settlement times, lower transaction costs, and a larger supply. For this reason, is often referred to as “Bitcoin’s silver gold. “
Main technical features
Litecoin shares Bitcoin’s Proof-of-Work (POW) foundation but differs in several critical areas. Its block time is 2.5 minutes, compared to Bitcoin’s 10 minutes, allowing for faster transaction confirmations. The maximum supply is 84 million coins, four times larger than Bitcoin’s 21 million, making individual units more accessible. Instead of Bitcoin’s mining algorithm, Litecoin uses Scrypt, which was designed to make mining more widely accessible before the advent of specific integrated circuits (ASICs).
Since its inception, Litecoin has maintained an uninterrupted time network, a rarity in the blockchain sector. This reliability, paired with low transaction fees averaging under 10 cents, positions Litecoin as a practical medium of exchange rather than primarily a store of value.
Innovation and adoption
Litecoin has been an early testing ground for major blockchain innovations. In 2017, it became the first major network to activate segregated witness (SEGWIT), a scaling upgrade that optimizes block space and resolves transaction transaction. Later, Litecoin helped pioneer the Lightning Network (LN), a second-layer protocol that enables instant, near-zero-cost payments. The first cross-chain lightning transaction, routing LTC to BTC, took place shortly after SEGWIT was activated.
Security is also boosted by an integrated mining setup Since 2014. By sharing hash power between two Scrypt-based networks, both ecosystems benefit from stronger protection against potential attacks by 51%.
Supply Dynamics and Network Health
Litecoin’s Reward Schedule mirrors Bitcoin’s, with rewards stopping every four years. More than 90% of the total 84 million LTC supply has been mined, and annual inflation stands at under 2%. The next split, expected in July 2027, will reduce inflation below 1%, comparable to many traditional safe-haven assets.
The on-chain activity reflects Litecoin’s robust usage. Transaction numbers have grown during periods of Bitcoin congestion and spikes in Dogecoin demand. Active addresses have shown elasticity over time, featuring relative utility compared to peer networks.
The hash rate, the measure of computing power secured by the blockchain, has increased in recent years, supported by improved ASIC efficiency and the incentive of the combined Litecoin-Dogecoin mining rewards. Mining power remains concentrated in a number of pools, but overall network security has never been higher.
Valuation metrics
Two widely monitored crypto valuation tools, the network value to transactions (NVT) ratio and the market value to realized value (MVRV) ratio, provide context for Litecoin’s current stance. NVT, which measures market capitalization relative to on-chain activity, sits below Bitcoin and Dogecoin’s, suggesting Litecoin may be more fairly valued relative to its utility. Meanwhile, the MVRV, which compares the market price to the average price at which the coins last moved, remains below long-term bull market levels, signaling that it is covered by excessive speculation.
External sentiment indicators confirm this picture. Google Trends data for “Litecoin” has declined steadily since the 2021 peak, pointing to reduced retail enthusiasm. However, these conditions have historically aligned with undervalued entry points in previous market cycles.
Takeaways for financial advisors
For advisors examining the digital asset landscape, Litecoin represents a case study in durability. It has been operating continuously for more than a decade, has survived many market downturns, and has consistently delivered on its value proposition: fast, low-cost, reliable transactions. While it does not command the dominance of the bitcoin brand or Ethereum’s Smart Contract Ecosystem, Litecoin fills a complementary role within the broader digital asset market.
In portfolio construction, Litecoin can be considered as:
- A diversification tool within a crypto allocation, offering exposure to a network different from Bitcoin but with a proven security model.
- A lower beta plays out in transaction-oriented cryptocurrencies, with relatively muted speculation compared to meme-driven assets like Dogecoin.
- A long-term utility store, benefiting from declining release and consistent adoption, even amid shifting market narratives.
For clients exploring digital assets, Litecoin stands as one of the most tested and resilient networks in the space. The combination of security, innovation, and practical utility underscores why it continues to endure as a key component of the crypto ecosystem.
– Josh Olszewicz, Portfolio Manager, Canary Capital
Ask an expert
Q. Decentralized finance (defi) has experienced explosive growth, hype cycles, and is now pushing toward maturity. From your perspective, what is the biggest gap still holding back def from mainstream adoption?
A. Defi has proven that trustless code can automate financial services at scale. But code alone is not enough. Even in a “trustless” system, participants continue to rely on trust: that smart contracts are secure, that Oracle data is accurate, that a counterparty is not malicious, and that audits address the right risks. Because on-chain transactions are irreversible, failures in trust assumptions can be catastrophic.
What Defi lacks is a reliable communication layer to make up for the unreliable implementation. Protocols are blind to who is on the other side of a transaction and whether their information is credible. There is no native way to verify identity, reputation, or track record in a structured, validated format. This leaves users vulnerable, prevents protocols from credential assessment, and deters institutions.
Closing this gap requires an infrastructure that makes the information itself verifiable and composable. Intuitively, we are building exactly that: a layer of trust and reputation for the wider information economy.
Q. A lot of people are talking about how Defi needs better ways to handle reputation, credentials, and trust. What do you see as the most promising approach for solving those challenges?
Testimonials have been part of Ethereum’s DNA from the beginning, the original white paper even highlighted identity as a key use case. For more than a decade, developers have experimented with testimonials, or signed on-chain statements, to gain trust. But for now they are limited to narrow flows: verifying a single credential or verifying one fact at a time.
What is missing is making scale validations available in richer contexts. Instead of simply asking, “does this address hold this credential?”, we must analyze thousands or even millions of claims to understand an entity’s reputation. That’s the missing layer.
Intuitively, we build exactly that: a proof graph that makes verifiable data portable and usable. By connecting testimonies in a graph, smart contracts and AI agents can reason about history, context, and reputation, unlocking credit scores, undercollateralized lending, credit control, and permissionless reputation markets.
Q. Going forward, what types of def applications or innovations do you think will define the next wave of growth, and how will infrastructure such as verified data or reputation systems play a role?
The next wave of Defi is not just about moving capital faster; It’s about moving trust faster. Smart contracts gave us unreliable execution, but the missing piece was proven context about who and what we were dealing with.
When testimonials and reputations can reliably exist on-chain, Defi evolves beyond being purely collateral-based. Undercollateralized lending is possible, access to the pool can be gated by reputation instead of arbitrary whitelists, and management can reward real contributions instead of worthless token balances. Entire markets for reputation itself will open up, where the credibility of an address or dataset can be priced, traded, or staked against outcomes.
This is also what AI agents will need as they move from executing swaps to making complex decisions under uncertainty. A proven trust and reputation graph provides the foundation.
– Billy Luedtke, CEO, Intuition
Keep reading
- Morgan Stanley’s 16,000 advisors offered to offer Solicited Crypto Investments to clients this week.
- JP Morgan plans to enable access to crypto for clients but has yet to offer caution.
- Citibank plans to launch keeping crypto Services in 2026.
