What is it?

Litecoin is a cryptocurrency as well as the name of an open source-software.

Both are based on the blockchain technology upon which Bitcoin has been built.

The open-source software/protocol, upon which Litecoin is based, has no central authority.

Litecoin is very similar to Bitcoin in the sense it is one of the earliest currencies created through a hard fork of the Bitcoin blockchain (the network going live in October 2011).

For this reason is Litecoin considered an altcoin.

As an altcoin, Litecoin has many similarities with Bitcoin but differentiates on a few points.

These being:
– Faster block processing (2,5minutes time compared to Bitcoin’s 10 minutes).
– Usage of “Scrypt” as a proof-of-work algorithm (whereas Bitcoin uses SHA-256 .
The difference between Scrypt and SHA256 is the following:
– “Scrypt” is password-based key derivation structure
– SHA256 is a set of cryptographic hash functions using 32-bit words.

— in short: Scrypt is memory reliant whereas SHA256 is calculating power reliant.
— the difference between looking in databanks to process a demand VS calculating and doing all the work from scratch.

No whitepaper is available. Only a presentation video which can be found here.

Opinion and analysis:

I share the general opinion of investors on this one where it concerns use.

Cryptoverze has best worded my exact sentiment about Litecoin:

“Due to the vast difference in price, Bitcoin often being seen as gold for its storing value and long term purpose and Litecoin on the other hand was seen as silver. This is because Litecoin is more suitable for day-to-day use and transaction due to its more rational pricing and it often seen as having a more sustainable future than Bitcoin(BTC). “ –

Cryptoverze

Due to this sustainable future is it one of the top coins to have in your digital wallet.

For more information check out the Litecoin website
To check out the “Whitepaper”/ presentation click here.

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For the inquiring minds did I develop an extensive course on Cryptocurrency.
Find more about it here: The Ultimate Guide to Cryptocurrency.