A number of recent high-profile actions seem to show that the Litecoin Foundation remains committed to real world payment services. Through a partnership with the TokenPay platform, Litecoin (LTC) will now own a 9.9% stake in German bank WEG. This direct link with the traditional financial world could vastly expand Litecoin’s payment options. Further, Coinbase is pressing their Satoshi-family coins as a means of direct payment. Through integration with prolific e-commerce app WooCommerce, users will soon be able to pay for services using both Bitcoin and Litecoin.
Litecoin reached new all-time highs earlier this year upon the announcement of their LitePay and LitePal services. Theoretically, LitePay would have allowed users to spend Litecoin in the real world – while LitePal will serve e-commerce instead. Unfortunately, LitePay proved itself vaporware within a matter of months and suddenly evaporated as a company. LitePal has yet to come to fruition, but lateral movements like their addition to WooCommerce may make the third-party platform ultimately irrelevant.
Litecoin Acquires Stake in WEG Bank
In the wake of the WaveCrest incident, major cryptocurrency projects have been on the hunt for banks and payment processors willing to fill the vacuum. The head of TokenPay, Derek Capo, decided on a different direction. Rather than attempt to work with banks as a third-party, he sought to purchase a bank directly. Partnering with Litecoin Foundation’s Charlie Lee, Capo made aggressive moves to acquire the German bank WEG. Funded by Lee, TokenPay is in the process of purchasing the entire bank.
However, German law prevents the purchase of more than 9.9% of any banking institution without government approval. While the two companies wait for the German government’s blessing, they are moving ahead with potential payment options that use the existing banking framework.
Litecoin Included in Coinbase’s WooCommerce Plug-In
Coinbase is making waves with an array of unexpected expansions – among which is a cryptocurrency plug-in for the WooCommerce application. WooCommerce powers payment processing on the WordPress platform – one of the world’s largest blogging and website creation services. Serving almost 30% of the e-commerce community, WooCommerce is open-source and provides the framework for a variety of website based shops and features.
The addition of both Bitcoin and Litecoin through a Coinbase funded plug-in will allow the average shopper to use cryptocurrency for most payments. The process is still peer-to-peer – both users will need a wallet – but the functionality it simple and easily added to existing shops. Potentially fulfilling the promises of LitePal’s platform, users will now be able to pay for goods and services on WordPress with Litecoin. This is good news for ‘the silver to Bitcoin’s gold’ and may alleviate some of the concerns in the wake of the LitePay situation.
Article By: Adam Stone
