Litecoin LTC

About Litecoin

Litecoin is a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency created by Charlie Lee. It was created based on the Bitcoin protocol but differs in terms of the hashing algorithm used, hard cap, block transaction times and a few other factors. Litecoin was released via an open-source client on GitHub on Oct. 7, 2011, and the Litecoin Network went live five days later on Oct. 13, 2011.

Litecoin was designed to complement Bitcoin by solving issues like concentrated mining pools and transaction timings. It has a block generation time of 2.5 minutes, compared to Bitcoin's 10 minutes, which allows for faster transaction confirmation.

Key Features

• Faster Block Generation: 2.5 minutes compared to Bitcoin's 10 minutes.
• Scrypt Algorithm: Uses a different hashing algorithm than Bitcoin's SHA-256.
• Larger Maximum Supply: 84 million LTC compared to Bitcoin's 21 million.
• MimbleWimble Extension Block (MWEB): Enhances privacy and fungibility.
• Lightning Network Support: Enables faster and cheaper transactions.

Technology

Litecoin uses the Scrypt hashing algorithm, which is less susceptible to custom hardware solutions such as ASICs. This was originally intended to ensure more decentralized mining, although ASICs for Scrypt have since been developed.

Litecoin implemented Segregated Witness (SegWit) in May 2017, which helps improve scalability by increasing the block size limit. In 2022, Litecoin activated the MWEB (MimbleWimble Extension Block) upgrade, which enhances privacy and fungibility.