What Is Litecoin?
Litecoin (LTC) is a decentralized peer-to-peer cryptocurrency and open-source software project. Bitcoin inspired it and was one of the earliest altcoins, established in October 2011. Its design shares a slightly modified Bitcoin codebase, meaning it has lower transaction fees, faster transaction confirmations, and more rapid mining difficulty retargeting. In 2022, Litecoin added optional privacy features via a soft fork through the MWEB (MimbleWimble extension block) upgrade.
Background
Litecoin was developed by Charlie Lee, a Google employee who would later become engineering director at Coinbase. Lee created Litecoin as an alternative version of a previous cryptocurrency called Tenebrix. Litecoin adopted the script mining algorithm from Tenebrix but returned to the limited money supply concept of Bitcoin, among other changes.
How It Works
Litecoin operates on an open-source client and was launched in October 2011. It differs from Bitcoin primarily in having a decreased block generation time, an increased maximum number of coins, and a different hashing algorithm (scrypt versus SHA-256). It also features faster difficulty retargeting and a slightly modified GUI. The currency code for Litecoin is LTC, and it is divisible up to eight decimal places. Litecoin’s growth has been supported by increasing exchange availability and liquidity and has experienced significant value growth over the years.
Key Takeaways
- Litecoin (LTC) is a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency and open-source software project inspired by Bitcoin.
- It was one of the earliest altcoins, established in 2011, and offers lower transaction fees, faster transaction confirmations, and more rapid mining difficulty retargeting.
- Litecoin was created by Charlie Lee, a former Google employee and the engineering director at Coinbase.
- Litecoin’s differences from Bitcoin include a decreased block generation time, an increased maximum number of coins, and a different hashing algorithm (scrypt versus SHA-256).
- The growth of Litecoin has been supported by increasing exchange availability and liquidity, and it has experienced significant value growth over the years.
