Exchange BTC China is introducing litecoin trading, effective immediately and with 0% commission. It will become the first widely-used exchange after BTC-e to trade the world's second most popular cryptocurrency.

CEO of BTC China, Bobby Lee, announced the move this morning, saying "users have been clamouring for this for ages".

Digital currency watchers will also note that BTC China's CEO, Bobby Lee, is the elder brother of litecoin inventor Charles Lee. BTC China's banner for the announcement also reads "Brothers Reunited".

Lee acknowledged that his fraternal relationship with Charles was well known in China and elsewhere, and said this was the main reason people asked him about integrating litecoin.

"My brother has been a big advocate," Lee said. "We really hope to spark the market for litecoin trading in China. So for those people who know, that phrase is a play on words, because in some sense, litecoin is also bitcoin's younger sibling when it comes to cryptocurrency. Dual meanings."

"When we did a user survey back in November last year, litecoin trading was the most highly requested feature, the number one request," Lee said.

Charles Lee added the following comments:

"I am very excited about BTC China adding Litecoin trading to their site. BTC China's decision to support Litecoin reinforces the fact that Litecoin is the most popular alternative to Bitcoin and Bitcoin/Litecoin is the 1-2 punch of crypto-currency."

"As we have seen with the recent MtGox disaster, a competent and trusted exchange is very important for the health of a crypto-currency like Bitcoin and Litecoin. BTC China is a venture-backed company with a history of secure and safe practices. Unlike a lot of other crypto companies, BTC China is run by competent and non-anonymous individuals. I know because my brother, Bobby Lee, is the CEO of BTC China."

"Bobby has also committed to me a matching challenge donation of 1000 LTC to the Litecoin development fund. It shows that BTC China believes in the future of Litecoin and wants to support the development and health of Litecoin. BTC China also recognizes that what's good for Litecoin is also good for Bitcoin as we contribute substantive bug fixes to Bitcoin and our ability to experiment faster helps advance the state of the art of crypto-currency."

BTC China joins a myriad of recent announcements of Litecoin support from exchanges, payment processors, and merchants.

"The future of Litecoin is as bright as it has ever been. I am extremely excited," Lee said.

Lee also stressed BTC China's reputation as a major selling point. He added:

The recent Mt. Gox fiasco proved that trust in digital currency exchanges was important and probably needed to be rebuilt.

"It's a sober reminder that even if BTC is decentralized, if an exchange has questionable management then there's a failure point," Lee continued.

Litecoin currently trades for around 0.0222 BTC on BTC-e, or $14.64. Its market cap is around $387m. During bitcoin's bull run at the end of 2013 it went as high as $45.

Image credit: BTCkeychain / Flickr