WHAT IS LITECOIN?
Litecoin is a cryptocurrency that was founded in 2011, two years after bitcoin, by a former Google engineer named Charlie Lee.
Measured by market capitalization, Litecoin is the ninth-largest cryptocurrency.
Initially, it was a strong competitor to bitcoin. However, as the cryptocurrency market has become more saturated in recent years with new offerings, Litecoin's popularity has waned.
Litecoin has always been viewed as a reaction to bitcoin. In fact, when Lee announced the debut of Litecoin on a popular bitcoin forum, he called it the "lite version of Bitcoin."1 For this reason, Litecoin has many of the same features as bitcoin, while also adapting and changing some other aspects that the development team felt could be improved.
The Litecoin Foundation estimates that it will be around 2142 when the maximum of 84 million Litecoins will be reached.
Litecoin is a peer-to-peer Internet currency that enables instant, near-zero cost payments to anyone in the world. Litecoin is an open source, global payment network that is fully decentralized without any central authorities. Mathematics secures the network and empowers individuals to control their own finances. Litecoin features faster transaction confirmation times and improved storage efficiency than the leading math-based currency. With substantial industry support, trade volume and liquidity, Litecoin is a proven medium of commerce complementary to Bitcoin.
The Litecoin blockchain is capable of handling higher transaction volume than its counterpart - Bitcoin. Due to more frequent block generation, the network supports more transactions without a need to modify the software in the future.
As a result, merchants get faster confirmation times, while still having ability to wait for more confirmations when selling bigger ticket items.
MINING REWARD
Miners are currently awarded with 12.5 new litecoins per block, an amount which gets halved roughly every 4 years (every 840,000 blocks).
The Litecoin network is therefore scheduled to produce 84 million litecoins, which is 4 times as many currency units as Bitcoin.
To create Litecoin, Lee copied the Bitcoin codebase, increased the total supply, and changed the speed at which new blocks are added to the blockchain. Only approximately 84 million litecoins will ever be created, quadruple the total bitcoin supply. Litecoin also creates new blocks every 2.5 minutes, four times faster than Bitcoin. The Litecoin investor and developer communities view the protocol as a complementary pseudo-testnet for Bitcoin and a “digital silver” to Bitcoin’s “digital gold”. The Litecoin foundation stewards the Litecoin project and finances Litecoin Core development.
HOW IS LITECOIN DIFFERENT FROM BITCOIN?
The most important distinction between Litecoin and Bitcoin is the different cryptographic algorithms that they employ. Bitcoin uses the SHA-256 algorithm, whereas Litecoin makes use of a newer algorithm, called scrypt.
Litecoin has some inherent advantages when compared to bitcoin. It was founded with the goal of prioritizing transaction speed, and this is a major reason for its popularity. The bitcoin network’s average transaction confirmation time is currently just under nine minutes per transaction, while Litecoin's is roughly 2.5 minutes. Litecoin's network can handle more transactions because of its shorter block generation time.
Bitcoin has a significantly greater market capitalization than Litecoin. As of April 21, 2021, the total value of all bitcoins in circulation is around $1 trillion, while the market capitalization of Litecoin is around $18.3 billion. Bitcoin's market capitalization still dwarfs all other digital currencies.
Both bitcoin and Litecoin have fixed supplies. However, bitcoin's supply is limited to only 21 million coins, while Litecoin's total fixed supply is 84 million coins.
GOALS OF LITECOIN
Litecoin, like all virtual currencies, is a form of digital money. Both individuals and institutions can use Litecoin to purchase things and to transfer funds between accounts. Participants can make transactions with Litecoin without the use of an intermediary like a bank, credit card company, or payment processing service.
Rather than focusing on its functionality, many investors are interested in Litecoin as a potential long-term holding. Similar to investments in any type of currency, investors are speculating that Litecoin will build relative wealth over time.
WHAT IS LITECOIN USED FOR?
Litecoin can be used as an avenue for paying people anywhere in the world without an intermediary having to process the transaction.
An analysis by Invezz is suggesting a deal of bullish momentum for Litecoin in the wake of the newest crypto surge. The publication is suggesting that Litecoin could be one of the best-performing crypto plays in the near future.
Like Bitcoin, Litecoin is a cryptocurrency with enormous long-term projected growth. This helpful Litecoin Price Prediction guide will help investors understand if LTC will rise like Bitcoin and reach prices of $1,000 or more in 2021 and what it will reach beyond 2025.
HOW DO I ADD LITECOIN TO MY WALLET?
1. Go to the app store (iOS) or to Google Play (Android).
2. Search and download Coinomi.
3. Open the app and write down your recovery sentence of 24 words.
4. Set a strong password.
5. Add litecoin to your wallet.
6. Use your receiving address to receive litecoin.
HOW DO YOU GET LITECOIN FAST?
The easiest and most popular way to earn free litecoin is through a Litecoin faucet. A faucet is a website or an application that gives users free crypto coins for completing simple tasks. These tasks are usually easy tasks like completing simple games.
IS LITECOIN GOOD TO BUY RIGHT NOW?
Litecoin is a preferred method for sending crypto to and from exchanges, while Bitcoin is now used more as a store of value. Litecoin did just that at it's bear market bottom. But now that the low has been put in, Litecoin is once a good investment.
HOW DO I PURCHASE LITECOIN?
1. Coinbase
2. Coinmama
3. BitPanda
4. CEX.io
5. Kraken
