Introduction to Litecoin Payment Gateway Solutions
Dec 10 2020With the growing cryptocurrency industry, a Litecoin payment gateway offers a huge expansion opportunity for businesses.
However, when the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto launched Bitcoin in 2009, no one expected the cryptocurrency industry to grow at such a rapid pace.
By now, over 7,800 digital assets exist on the market with the goal to disrupt the finance and payment industries with innovative solutions.
With a $5.8 billion market capitalization, Litecoin is among the most popular cryptocurrencies, which offers fast and cheap payments for both businesses and consumers.
To accept LTC transactions from their customers, businesses have to set up a Litecoin payment gateway, which we will explore in detail in this article.
Let's dive in!
What Is Litecoin (LTC) and How Is it Different From Bitcoin (BTC)?
Developed by computer scientists Charlie Lee in late 2011, Litecoin (LTC) is a digital asset that currently ranks as the fifth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.
As Litecoin's code is based on Bitcoin's, the two cryptocurrencies are very similar in nature.
Both cryptocurrencies are based on the blockchain and feature decentralized peer-to-peer (P2P) networks. For that reason, users can send, receive, store, and pay with digital assets without a central authority that can censor or limit access to the platform.
Instead of a central server, Litecoin's network is maintained by community members called miners responsible for verifying transactions and adding new blocks to the chain.
Similarly to Bitcoin, Litecoin features a maximum supply that is capped at 84 million coins, with the rate at which new coins are generated reduced to half every four years.
However, there are some key differences between the two cryptocurrencies.
First, block generation in the Litecoin network occurs every 2.5 minutes compared to Bitcoin's 10-minute interval. As a result, LTC transactions confirm and arrive faster to recipients while featuring lower costs than BTC transfers (the average LTC transaction fee is around $0.01).
Also, to make LTC mining more accessible and reduce the dominance of specialized mining equipment (called ASICs) in the network, Litecoin uses the Scrypt mining algorithm in contrast with Bitcoin's SHA-256.
Interestingly, while the two cryptocurrencies closely resemble each other, neither digital asset project views the other as a competitor.
Instead, Litecoin is often seen as the "silver to Bitcoin's gold," with LTC often serving as a testing ground for the latter cryptocurrency project in network development and upgrades.
What Is a Litecoin Payment Gateway?
A Litecoin payment gateway allows merchants to accept LTC payments from their customers.
In exchange for processing Litecoin transactions, the payment gateway solution charges merchants a percentage-based or a fixed fee (or both), which the provider deducts from each transfer.
The Litecoin payment gateway service automatically converts the fiat value of the customer's order into LTC using a fixed or real-time exchange rate.
The payment service displays a Litecoin wallet address and a QR code for users during the checkout process.
As the next step, customers either scan the QR code via their smartphones or use the wallet address to send the specified amount of LTC to the business.
To limit the merchant's risks, the payment gateway specifies the timeframe (usually an hour) in which the user has to complete the transfer.
Upon a successful transaction, the payment service provider deducts the fees from the transfer and distributes it to the merchant's account to hold, withdraw, or exchange to fiat currency.
While some Litecoin payment gateway solutions disburse customer transactions to merchants in LTC, other services automatically convert the digital assets to fiat currency before sending the funds to businesses.
Why Should a Business Accept Litecoin Payments?
As one of the oldest cryptocurrencies, Litecoin features a nearly $6 billion market capitalization in the $560 billion digital asset industry.
The booming crypto market, which is expected to expand by a 60.2% Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) by 2025, offers businesses an excellent opportunity to capitalize on.
Furthermore, since Litecoin features fast block generation times and very low transaction fees, it is an excellent choice for businesses seeking to accept cryptocurrency payments from their customers.
In addition to the above, Litecoin and cryptocurrencies provide the following benefits to businesses:
- 24/7 network coverage: Cryptocurrency networks operate continuously, allowing businesses to accept payments from their customers even on weekends and bank holidays.
- Inexpensive fees: As the blockchain networks of digital assets lack the middlemen, crypto transactions feature inexpensive costs ($0.01 for Litecoin transactions on average).
- Fast processing times: Crypto transactions feature quick processing times, with Litecoin transfers usually arriving in approximately 2.5 minutes to recipients.
- New audience to target: By accepting Litecoin and positioning themselves as crypto-friendly businesses, merchants can reach the growing audience of cryptocurrency enthusiasts.
- High level of security: Via public-key cryptography and decentralized architecture, digital assets like Litecoin offer increased security for both businesses and their customers.
- No chargeback risks: Due to their nature, cryptocurrency transactions can't be reversed by any party. As a result, digital asset transfers eliminate all risks of chargebacks for merchants.
- Effective cross-border transfers: Unlike banks, cryptocurrency networks don't differentiate between local and international transfers. For that reason, there are no extra fees associated with cross-border transactions, making digital asset payments a viable solution for businesses serving a global audience.
- Suits high-risk businesses: Digital assets like Litecoin allow high-risk companies to accept payments for products and services that require discretion between the merchant and its customers.
In addition to the above, Litecoin payment gateway solutions offer further benefits for businesses and their customers:
- User-friendly checkout: By automatically exchanging the order's fiat value to LTC, the Litecoin payment gateway creates a convenient checkout process for the business' customers.
- Advanced anti-fraud and security measures: The Litecoin payment gateway solution utilizes various security and anti-fraud measures to ensure the safety of both companies and consumers.
- Reporting features: Businesses can easily track each customer's transactions via the payment gateway's reporting feature.
How to Accept Litecoin Payments Online?
As discussed earlier, businesses can accept Litecoin payments online by integrating an LTC gateway solution into their platform.
And the award-winning e-wallet solution STICPAY is an excellent choice for businesses seeking to accept Litecoin. In addition to LTC, merchants can also accept Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and 29 national currencies from their customers.
STICPAY offers a competitive 1.8% fee for processing crypto transactions. At the same time, users pay 1% for funding their accounts with Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Ethereum and 1.2% + $3 for BTC withdrawals.
Monitoring over five global exchanges, STICPAY features an integrated fiat-to-crypto and crypto-to-crypto currency converter with excellent market exchange rates.
With a global presence in over 190 countries and a strong foothold in Asia, STICPAY offers its customers a cost-efficient, convenient, and secure way to handle their everyday finances.
In addition to cryptocurrencies, the e-wallet service offers the following payment methods for its users:
- Visa
- MasterCard
- UnionPay China
- Local and international bank wire
Available in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, China, South Korea, Japan, and the Philippines, STICPAY's domestic bank transfer service allows users to add and withdraw funds to their accounts inexpensively and rapidly.
For that reason, STICPAY experiences increased demand for its local bank wire service, which the company will expand to multiple nations and regions shortly.
The safety of its users' funds is a top priority for STICPAY. To ensure that both merchants and end-users are protected on the platform, STICPAY utilizes advanced anti-fraud and security features, as well as strict, Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) checks.
In addition to a web platform, users can download the e-wallet service's redesigned mobile apps to iOS and Android to enjoy the full STICPAY experience at the convenience of their smartphones.
Set Up a Litecoin Payment Gateway With STICPAY
To start accepting cryptocurrency, merchants can set up a Litecoin payment gateway with STICPAY.
As the first step, businesses have to open a merchant account at STICPAY. After filling out the form with their details and submitting the mandatory KYC and AML documents, STICPAY's customer success team will verify the merchant's request.
Upon successful verification, STICPAY will issue a unique merchant ID for the business, which it can use to open and manage multi-currency accounts on the platform.
Merchants can utilize STICPAY's Open API and its corresponding documentation to directly integrate the Litecoin payment gateway into their platforms.
Ready to accept Litecoin payments from your customers?
Open a merchant account at STICPAY now!
Have questions? Contact STICPAY's rockstar customer support team to get your queries answered 24 hours a day!