Litecoin (LTC) is an altcoin that aims to have improved speed and transaction costs when compared with Bitcoin (BTC). LTC is one of the longest-standing crypto assets after BTC, intended to serve as more of a sidekick to BTC than a rival asset.
In general, Litecoin is a blockchain-based way to transact value globally. Litecoin trades on numerous platforms and has been one of the most prevalent crypto assets in the industry for most of the crypto sector’s existence. Litecoin has potential value in its faster, cheaper transactions versus Bitcoin, although LTC is less scarce in terms of coin supply and also less prominent.
Litecoin history
Forged in the fires of the early days of the crypto industry, Litecoin was created in 2011 from the efforts of Charlie Lee. A prominent figure in the crypto space, Lee’s resume includes work for Google and Coinbase. Lee, a computer scientist, created Litecoin from Bitcoin’s code, although Litecoin uses an open-source blockchain that is separate from Bitcoin and has alternate features.
LTC came on the scene roughly two years after BTC hit the market in 2009, in the infancy of an industry that has since blossomed into a bustling sector of technology and monetary innovation. The Litecoin Foundation, a nonprofit entity, oversees Litecoin’s technology.
As far as the purpose of Litecoin’s existence and value, one potential draw to the asset is its generally faster speed and lower fees compared with on-chain Bitcoin transactions, while still having a strong history in the crypto space. Litecoin has also served as a sort of testnet for Bitcoin on a number of occasions in the past. For example, Segregated Witness (SegWit), a blockchain scaling initiative, was used on Litecoin prior to the Bitcoin network implementing it.
Litecoin features
LTC has a number of key differences from BTC. While both assets utilize a proof-of-work (PoW) mining consensus, Bitcoin employs a SHA-256 hashing algorithm, whereas Litecoin uses Scrypt. LTC has a larger maximum supply of 84 million coins compared with BTC’s 21 million. At 2.5 minutes per block, Litecoin transactions are faster and less costly than Bitcoin and its 10-minute blocks. Litecoin has been positioned in a similar light to silver in a world in which Bitcoin is compared to gold.
Similar to Bitcoin, Litecoin completes a halving event approximately every four years, cutting its mining reward in half. Litecoin’s first halving event occurred in 2015, trimming its reward from 50 LTC to 25 LTC per block.
Litecoin price history
The crypto industry is filled with a history of price volatility. Litecoin is no exception to the market’s reputation in this regard. In the years since its inception, LTC has traded below $5 and above $400 per coin. A Litecoin price history can be viewed on the Litecoin price chart above, which includes the asset’s all-time high.
LTC is well known in the crypto world, and the asset can be bought and sold on numerous platforms.
