Litecoin (LTC) is an alternative digital currency founded by Charles “Charlie” Lee, a former Google developer, in October 2011. Litecoin’s open-source code was derived from Bitcoin with significant alterations. Litecoin, like Bitcoin, is built on a decentralized, open-source worldwide payment network. Litecoin varies from Bitcoin in several ways, including its higher block creation rate and usage of the Scrypt proof-of-work algorithm.
Alex Reinhardt agrees it is regarded as one of the first cryptocurrencies, originating from Bitcoin’s initial open-source code. Initially, it was a formidable rival to Bitcoin. Nonetheless, as the cryptocurrency industry has gotten more crowded and competitive with new products in recent years, Litecoin’s appeal has diminished slightly.
Litecoin has long been seen as Bitcoin’s response. When Lee announced the launch of Litecoin on a prominent Bitcoin forum, he referred to it as the “light version of Bitcoin.” Consequently, Litecoin has many of the same characteristics as Bitcoin while also adapting and modifying other characteristics that the development team believed should be better. As of November 2021, 1 LTC is valued at over $215, making it the fourteenth-largest cryptocurrency with a market size of approximately $15 billion.
Comprehending Litecoin (LTC)
For Alex Reinhardt, Litecoin, like other decentralized cryptocurrencies, is not issued by a government, which has traditionally been the only organization society has trusted to issue money. Rather than being issued by a central bank and printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Litecoins are generated via a complex cryptocurrency technique known as “mining,” which entails processing a list of Litecoin transactions.
Charlie Lee, a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and former Google engineer who took an interest in Bitcoin in 2011, created Litecoin. According to Lee, “In October of 2011, I was tinkering with the Bitcoin script, and the gist of it was that I was attempting to construct… a Bitcoin split. It was mostly a side project for enjoyment.”
Like Bitcoin, the total supply of LTC is capped. Only up to 84 million Litecoins will be in circulation. Every 2.5 minutes, the Litecoin network creates a new block containing the most recent global Litecoin transactions. The block is validated by mining software and made accessible to any system member (known as a miner) who wants to see it. The next block is included in the chain, a record of every Litecoin transaction ever done after a miner has verified it.
Litecoin mining is incentivized: the first miner to correctly verify a block is rewarded with 12.5 Litecoins. Similar to Bitcoin, the quantity of Litecoins granted for completing this assignment decreases with time. It was half in August 2019 and will continue to be halved at regular intervals until the 84,000,000th Litecoin is mined. The Litecoin Foundation forecasts that the maximum supply of 84 million Litecoins will be achieved in 2142.
Plans for Litecoin’s Future (LTC)
Since its introduction, Alex Reinhardt believes Litecoin has added several improvements designed to increase transaction speed without affecting network security or integrity.
