What is Litecoin
Litecoin, the third largest cryptocurrency in the world was launched in the year 2011. It was created by Charlie Lee, a MIT graduate and former Google engineer and can be described as the second-in-command to Bitcoin. Litecoin is based on an open source global payment network that is not controlled by any central authority and uses “scrypt” as a proof of work, which can be decoded with the help of CPUs of consumer grade. Litecoin has a faster block generation rate and well as more rewards per block as compared to Bitcoins.
Explaining Litecoin
Litecoins were launched with the aim of being the “silver” to Bitcoin’s “gold,” and have gained much popularity since the time of inception. Litecoin is a peer-to-peer internet currency. It is a fully decentralized open source, global payment network. Litecoin was developed with the aim to improve on Bitcoin’s shortcomings, and has earned industry support along with high trade volume and liquidity over the years. The broader differences between the two cryptocurrencies are listed in the table below.
Bitcoin | Litecoin | |
---|---|---|
Creation | 2009 | 2011 |
Creator | Satoshi Nakamoto | Charles Lee |
Coin Limit | 21 Million | 84 Million |
Block Generation Time | 10 Minutes | 2.5 Minutes |
Algorithm | SHA-256 | Scrypt |
Initial Reward | 50 BTC | 50 BTC |
Current Block Reward (as of June 2014) |
25 BTC | 50 BTC |
Rewards | Halved every 210,000 blocks | Halved every 840,000 blocks |
Difficulty Retarget | 2016 Block | 2016 Block |
Litecoin is designed to produce more coins (Four times that of Bitcoin) and at a faster rate (1/4 th of the time of Bitcoin). Overall, Litecoin is seen as second to Bitcoins in value, but Litecoins are more easily obtainable and transactional.
Litecoin is securely stored in a wallet on your computer, tablet, phone or laptop.
Download yours and start sending and receiving payments with an address and a click.
Whether it’s clothing and apparel, food and drink or even a flight abroad you can buy it with Litecoin. Discover merchants that accept Litecoin.
If you are a merchant, you can easily integrate Litecoin into your web site or application using existing 3rd party shopping cart plugins. Go to litecoin.com for more info.
LiteCoin Live Price in USD
LiteCoin Live Price in EU