It is common practice to start any discussion on cryptocurrencies with Bitcoin as the progenitor of the entire sector. Due to a variety of factors, including its market value of more than 127 billion dollars and the regular publication of news pieces detailing its fluctuating price, Bitcoin has established itself as the main player in the field of cryptocurrencies. So why should you buy Litecoin if Bitcoin is such a staple of the crypto market? We’ll tell you why in this article.
Despite the fact that Bitcoin has long been considered the digital currency world’s analog to gold, Litecoin is often regarded as Bitcoin’s silver equivalent due to similarities between the two. Indeed, when Litecoin was originally released to the public in 2011, its developer disclosed that the motivation for its development was that it “intended to produce a coin that is silver like Bitcoin’s gold.” As a result of this, Litecoin was born.
Despite the fact that Litecoin is not now among the top five cryptocurrencies, it is largely regarded as one of the industry’s most promising newcomers. In just five years, the value of a single digital currency token has risen from $4.30 on April 28, 2013, to $116.98 on May 30, 2018 – a 2,620 percent increase.
Whether or not you have previously invested in cryptocurrencies, the Investing News Network (INN) is here to walk you through the foundations of Litecoin and anything else you may need help understanding.
What Is the Litecoin Cryptocurrency All About?
As previously stated, the initiative was conceived in 2011 in response to the necessity for the future development of Bitcoin. Charles Lee, who formerly worked for Google and is now the head of engineering at Coinbase, designed this decentralized coin. After some time had elapsed, Lee was elevated to the role of director of engineering at Coinbase.
Litecoin, according to CoinSutra, was the first alternative cryptocurrency ever established. It was built by forking the Bitcoin core code and applying a few changes to it. According to the website Coinsutra, Lee modified the code and protocol in order to “achieve large-scale adoption of the money.”
In its marketing language for the coin, the digital currency’s official website touts the coin as “a proven method of commerce in addition to Bitcoin.”
Litecoin is a decentralized cryptocurrency that runs on a peer-to-peer network. It enables consumers to make international payments swiftly and cheaply. Because the underlying cryptography technology is open source, it is freely available to the broader public. Because of this, the currencies can be made and traded without the help of any government.
Because it is published under the MIT/X11 license, its source code is freely available to the public and can be used, updated, and copied. Also, Litecoin.org promotes the fact that the program is open source, which means that both the binary files and the source code can be evaluated in an unbiased way.
The Primary Distinctions Between It and Bitcoin Are as Follows:
Even though both Bitcoin and Ethereum keep their users’ money in digital wallets and use similar mining methods, there are a few important differences between the two that should be noted.
Mining for Litecoin yields the same kind of rewards as mining for Bitcoin. A Bitcoin block takes about ten minutes to complete on average, and the reward for doing so is half every 210,000 blocks (or once every four years). A Bitcoin block mined before the most recent halving was given 12.5 coins; the value of a Bitcoin block will be decreased to 6.25 coins at the next halving.
Because new blocks are added to the Litecoin blockchain at a far faster pace than they are added to the bitcoin blockchain (every 2.5 minutes), the compensation for mining Litecoin is much larger. Currently, Litecoin miners are rewarded with 25 Litecoins for each solved block, with the payout being lowered by half every four years or every 840,000 blocks.
There will only ever be a maximum of 21 million Bitcoins mined, but 84 million Litecoins will be generated. Because of this, there will be a lot more Litecoins in circulation than there are Bitcoins.
The capacity of Litecoin to confirm transactions significantly faster than Bitcoin has previously been mentioned (every 2.5 minutes as opposed to every 10 minutes). Because Litecoin creates blocks at a faster pace than Bitcoin, there are claims that it can accommodate a larger number of transactions at the same time.
Bitcoin’s proof-of-work system is based on the SHA256 hashing algorithm, whereas Litecoin’s proof-of-work system is based on the Scrypt hashing algorithm. Another feature that distinguishes these two cryptocurrencies is that they have two different techniques.
How soon will I be able to obtain it, and where can I obtain it?
Litecoin, like Bitcoin, may be acquired on cryptocurrency exchanges using fiat currency (cash) or other digital currencies (such as Ethereum). Litecoin may be purchased on the same exchanges where Bitcoin can be purchased. Obtaining a wallet, which is required to store Bitcoin, is an important step to take before purchasing the digital currency Bitcoin. It was the first wallet designed from the ground up to hold the Litecoin cryptocurrency. It is one of the many Bitcoin wallets that are available right now, and it can be used on both desktop computers and mobile devices.
Because the cryptocurrency industry is still in its infancy and volatile, potential investors should exercise extreme caution before making any financial commitments related to the market. Choosing the best Bitcoin exchange is part of this process. This information is contained in its full in the following declaration: Earnings are satisfying, but there is always the chance of losing money. To avoid being a victim of a scam, always conduct your own investigation.
