Litecoin $LTC

Litecoin is a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency initiated by Charlie Lee. The project is based on the Bitcoin protocol but utilizes a different hashing algorithm called Scrypt, which is memory intensive. This allows even consumer-grade hardware like GPUs to mine the currency. While inspired by Bitcoin, Litecoin offers unique and significant modifications that have made it one of the most popular altcoins in the cryptocurrency landscape.

Why Litecoin?

Litecoin, a popular alternative or 'altcoin', provides an opportunity for investors looking to diversify their digital currency portfolio. The prominence of Litecoin is further cemented by the fact that it was created by an ex-Google employee and former Director of Engineering at Coinbase, Charlie Lee.

The fundamental difference between Bitcoin and Litecoin is the time taken to generate a block or transaction. While Bitcoin takes around 10 minutes, Litecoin only takes 2.5 minutes. This factor is of little significance to traders but has a profound impact on miners who cannot switch from Bitcoin to Litecoin, thereby maintaining a more decentralized experience. Litecoin features bigger blocks and a larger number of coins in circulation, which makes transactions faster and more economical.

Notable Features of Litecoin

Litecoin's faster transaction speed enables it to handle higher volumes of transactions compared to Bitcoin. If Bitcoin were to match this capability, it would require a code update. However, this would lead to larger but more 'orphaned blocks' on the Bitcoin network. Contrarily, the faster block time of Litecoin reduces the risk of double-spending attacks, given that both networks have the same hashing power.

Litecoin Technical Details

The following are the technical details of Litecoin: The transaction confirmation time is approximately 2.5 minutes, significantly lower than Bitcoin's 10 minutes. The Litecoin network is designed to have a cap of 84 million currency units.

Litecoin's Influence

Litecoin's Scrypt hashing algorithm, meant to deter ASIC miners, has inspired the creation of other popular cryptocurrencies like Dogecoin. However, it is predicted that by the end of the year, Scrypt ASIC will enter the mass market, potentially influencing the mining of coins like Litecoin.