Litecoin Fans Not Pleased with Latest LitePay Update

Things do not seem to be getting any clearer regarding the state of the much anticipated Litecoin payment system, LitePay, which officially launched on February 26.

On Monday, the company sent another email update to its mailing list subscribers, providing little information as to when the service will be fully functional.

Like its previous update, LitePay stated its consumer card — a special Litecoin debit card — is still on hold “due to the negative perception and drastic actions card issuers have towards cryptocurrency companies.” However, the email did state the company was “diligently checking all [prospective] merchants” that had apparently signed up upon launch.

Litecoin fans on the altcoin’s subreddit showed little to no optimism regarding this latest update. Draco1200 noted that merchant registration might be more convoluted than other popular payment services.

“Sigh…. Rubbish: ‘All merchants must be legally organized to conduct business to be qualified for the LitePay Merchant Processing Program,’” they wrote. “Even PayPal doesn’t have such requirements!”

It is still possible that this was the plan for launch all along, but LitePay’s lack of clear communication has cast a cloud of doubt and uncertainty around the company. It tweeted publicly about the situation only once a day after its launch, leaving investors and potential customers in the dark about what this service actually means for Litecoin.

The ambitious project was advertised as a means to bring Litecoin to the mainstream. A big problem holding a lot of cryptocurrencies back is that they are not widely accepted as tender by businesses. LitePay’s website stated it would bridge that gap by offering the service in 41 countries.

The easier it is for businesses and other entities to sign up for a payment service, the bigger the chance that it will become widely adopted. PayPal only requires businesses to provide an email and a name, making it simple for companies to reach the service’s hundreds of millions of users.

LitePay hasn’t detailed the steps needed to become a merchant on the platform. However, the payment service will have to report some positive progress on business registration to bolster confidence in the service.

At least then users could simply use the processor to buy products online with their Litecoin from participating businesses. This would be a much-needed first step if LitePay plans on turning its token of choice into spending money rather than simply an online asset.