The Bitcoin platform is the basis for creating an impressive number of branches. This refers to forks separated from the main blockchain on the open BTC protocol. In other words, anyone can use Bitcoin seed code to establish a personal digital currency. In fact, this procedure cannot be called elementary due to the fact that many "forks" on the cryptocurrency exchange remain unclaimed and disappear from the market over time. However, those virtual finance that have managed to strengthen themselves, become a profitable means of trading and transactions, deserve to be paid increased attention. Litecoin (LTC) can rightfully be called one of such successful examples. It is this digital currency that this material will be devoted to.

About Litecoin project

Litecoin or, as it is affectionately called on the forums, Litecoin is the cryptocurrency of the platform of the same name. It is very similar to the well-known torrents: personal computers are connected by software preinstalled on them - a Litecoin wallet. This technique is an integral network, which makes it possible to exchange digital currency without problems.

The basis for the foundation was Bitcoin, so the LTC payment system is confidential and decentralized, like the "big brother". But it should be mentioned that this currency was conceived in the format of an updated and optimized variation of Bitcoin, and not as a replacement. Litecoin was able to stay on the surface and become famous as virtual silver. Gold still belongs to Bitcoin.

Litecoin and Bitcoin are two digital currencies based on a single open source, but there are still significant differences between these financial assets:

Performance. Powerful hardware equipped with productive processors enables better Bitcoin generation. Compared to Litecoin, the performance ratio is much lower.
Reward system. Initially, the incentive for each completed block was 50 LTC, then this figure began to decrease and in 3 years it was reduced to 25 tokens.
Emission. The total number of Litecoins available through mining is 84 million, while Bitcoin has this ceiling of 21 million.
Formation of new blocks. As usual, each new block of information is produced for 2.5 minutes, which is four times faster than Bitcoin. For this reason, information about the implemented operations can be received an order of magnitude earlier.
Increasing complexity. A recalculation of the nuances regarding the generation of blocks occurs every three days. On the BTC site, this is done every 7 days.
Also of note are the various hashing algorithms. Bitcoin operates on a SHA-256 basis, while the Litecoin blockchain uses a script embodied by Colin Percival.

How is Litecoin created?

The name of Bitcoin founder Satoshi Nakamoto is shrouded in mystery. Many users wondered who it was. In relation to the Litecoin developer, everything is much clearer. Charles Lee is a very real person. He is a programmer by profession, previously worked for the giant company Google, and currently works for the Coinbase organization.

This platform was presented to the world in 2011. From the very beginning, Lee did not expect to produce a new token. His main intention was to improve BTC, which became necessary due to the negative reaction towards Bitcoin from users. Despite the sharp increase in the demand for this cryptocurrency, it was necessary to reduce the time period required to process digital transactions. In addition, the security of the token from hacker attacks left much to be desired, and it also lacked the block size.

Directly for the reasons listed above, Charles Lee began his labor activity aimed at modernizing the token, eliminating the problems that arose. Thus, on October 7, 2011, Litecoin was released - an updated type of virtual finance, but its founder, Charles Lee, insists that Litecoin date of birth is October 13.

Litecoin features

Litecoin received its first impressive success 2 years after its release. In November 2013, this digital currency had a market capitalization of $ 1 billion. By the beginning of 2017, it represented 1.5 billion US dollars, and by the middle it reached the 2 billion mark. It was then, in the midst of its own demand, that the price of Litecoin rose to $ 250. At the time of this writing, November 30, 2019, the Litecoin price was $ 47.09. Despite the not too high price, the number of users interested in LTC continues to grow, which indicates the undoubted popularity of the token. This is largely due to the creator of the coin, Charles Lee, who does not abandon his brainchild, but on the contrary, does not stop there: he modernizes and in every possible way improves the altcoin hand in hand with his team of talented developers.

If we talk about the CIS countries in the post-Soviet space, then the popularity and demand for cryptocurrencies is not too great. However, BTC and LTC are fairly well known among Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian traders.

Is Litecoin Infinite?

Also, the issue, or a limited number of tokens, can raise the value of the coin. The undoubted plus that distinguishes altcoin is the complete absence of global supervision from the management.

Also worth mentioning is the possibility of mining Litecoin. Network reconciliation is achieved using the PoW algorithm. That is, the miner solves the most difficult mathematical problem in order to generate blocks and receives a reward for this, which at the same time plays the role of issuing new coins. In total, there is a limit of 84 million tokens, the number of reward coins decreases every 840 thousand blocks. It is predicted that three quarters of all tokens will be extracted by 2020. However, mining has recently become unprofitable for ordinary users. Now it is possible to mine Litecoin with expensive equipment.

In fact, all digital currency manipulations take place through an electronic Litecoin wallet. This place can be designated as a temporary cryptocurrency warehouse. It allows any user to view absolutely all current and past transactions or check the balance. Before entering the wallet, the user will be required to enter a password, the same password is required when carrying out any transactions with digital money. Likewise, all user funds are reliably protected from interference by outsiders in transactions or malware for stealing coins, of which there are a great many.

Strengths of Litecoin

With the help of Litecoin, users are able to make any kind of settlements with participants, regardless of their location. When making a transaction, a minimum commission is charged. On the basis of this digital currency, a rather productive, improved system of payments between different countries of the world is being built.

The security of any trading procedure is provided by certain mathematical calculations. Thanks to this, many worldwide organizations successfully use this virtual finance for internal transactions, thereby creating an impressive trading turnover of cryptocurrency, which can be immediately converted into real money, fiat.

Among other things, Litecoin is in many ways similar to Bitcoin, as an example we can say about the complete confidentiality of all transactions. An unauthorized person cannot find out which user sent funds to this or that participant. This question will remain unanswered.

Absolutely all cryptocurrencies available in everyday life are similar in their ways of acquiring or selling. Any user is able to buy Litecoin in the exchanger, but the rate there may differ from the current one, plus a commission will need to be paid. It is also possible to receive coins from other users of the system. In addition, there is always the option to buy Litecoin on the cryptocurrency market. The most famous exchanges have long ago included this token in their listings.

It is possible to save finances in a digital wallet on the official website of the resource. The user only needs to go through the elementary registration procedure and open a wallet. However, it is possible to keep only litecoins in this storage, other types of crypto-money are not stored here. If the user owns several types of tokens, for example Bitcoins and Litecoins, it is better to choose a multi-currency wallet. Such a storage can support an average of 10 different tokens. In addition, Litecoin can be held on hardware wallets or on cryptocurrency exchanges. The latter is highly discouraged due to the high probability of hacking.

Litecoin in TOP currencies

Just like other digital money, Litecoin is not flawless. Mentioning this cryptocurrency, it should be understood that this is an exchange structure designed to perform instant money transactions, regardless of the users location. The name of the token suggests that, although it is a more perfect, but at the same time, a lighter version of Bitcoin. People trying to find global differences between LTC and BTC are unlikely to be able to do this due to the fact that both sites have the same blockchain and underlying open source code. However, the future prospects of Litecoin are driven by the innovations that were invented and successfully implemented by the founder of the coin. Lets consider the main ones.

Block generation in Litecoin is much faster than in Bitcoin. The time period for producing blocks is 4 times faster, which makes it possible to make the system not only instant, but also more secure.
Emission of tokens. The developer-preset limit of 84 million will sooner or later lead to a shortage of cryptocurrency, which can undoubtedly raise its value. Naturally, for such an outcome of events, the demand for Litecoin should remain.
Minimum commission payments for transactions. The price of the commission that the user has to pay to the miners for operations varies depending on the size of the blocks. The larger the block, the larger the commission payments. Comparing Litecoin with Bitcoin, it should be noted that the former has a slightly smaller block size, therefore, the commission will be small.
Faster transaction confirmation speed. It is possible to recall the episodes in which users could wait for days to confirm a BTC transaction. LTC has not experienced such delays, and it is for this reason that Litecoin today has such a number of admirers.
Also, it will not be superfluous to mention one of the main problems of Bitcoin - scalability. Despite the adjustment of this issue back in 2017, the system still serves the operations of a limited number of users. In addition, with the increasing demand for Bitcoin, transaction fees have risen. For example, when carrying out a transaction for the purchase of living space, a vehicle, payments may not be too large. But if a person decides to pay for a small purchase with cryptocurrency: to dine or buy a trinket, the commission will be high. Litecoin developers took into account all the shortcomings of Bitcoin and fixed them.

When it comes to the prospects for Litecoin, many cryptocurrency experts are quite promising. They make an unequivocal conclusion that this token will preserve its own relevance for at least the next 10 years. By December 2019, the capitalization of the currency is $ 2,868,160,131, and it itself is in sixth position in the list of the most popular tokens. There is information on the network that in the next, 2020, the price of coins may rise to 300 US dollars. True or not, it will be possible to observe in the near future.