Crypto is still in its infancy. More and more people and websites and even coffee shops and diners are taking BTC, ether and litecoin [albeit in major cities]. The more it gets accepted, the more mainstream it will become.
BTC is only really good for large purchases as the fees are extremely high. Litecoin is for smaller things like coffee, lunch, etc. - the transactions settle 4x faster than bitcoin and are pennies for fees.
I own and hodl LTC and have owned BTC and ether. [yes, hodl is spelled correctly - google it].

The thing is, no one knows what's going to happen with prices. There's over 800 coins available with new ones popping up all the time. It's sort of a gamble.
If you can afford it, throw a couple grand at the main ones and forget about it for 5 years. You might come back to find a very valuable account.

This time of year, bitcoin [which all alts move with] always takes a huge dip. 2015, 2016, 2017 and now. It will be over in mid to late Feb. and after a decent shoot up, it will steadily game all spring and summer. This post is preserved on pinside so time will tell if i'm right or wrong. History is a pretty good indicator of the future. The fear of missing out will bring those newbs back in and we'll ride the waves again.
Yes, this is a huge downturn, but it will pass. I think LTC is where it's at - I see it start moving up independent from BTC and it's faster and cheaper, has LitePay coming this week and more things being introduced in 15.1.

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