Litecoin: everything you need to know about LTC

What is Litecoin?

Litecoin (LTC) is the younger sibling of Bitcoin and was designed to facilitate fast and easy payments. It's a decentralized global payment network that is secure, fast, and cost-effective. Additionally, it is one of the oldest, most popular, and stable cryptocurrencies globally.

How does Litecoin work?

Litecoin allows users to make fast and affordable transactions worldwide. The Litecoin network was created in 2011 by Charlie Lee, a former Google engineer who became interested in Bitcoin. As a result, Litecoin emerged as a derivative of the Bitcoin network.

Litecoin aims to improve three key issues faced by Bitcoin: speed, scalability, and centralization. Additionally, Litecoin is characterized by the following features:

• High transaction speed
• Great scalability
• A decentralized mining process
• Low transaction fees
• Strong security (no major incidents in its over 10-year history)
• Focus on privacy
• An excellent reputation

Litecoin vs Bitcoin

As Litecoin is derived from Bitcoin, it operates in most respects like its older and larger sibling. However, its special characteristics make it a lighter alternative to Bitcoin, hence the name "Litecoin."

Litecoin originated from a copy of Bitcoin's source code, rather than a fork, resulting in an entirely new blockchain rather than a split from the original. Litecoin shares many technical similarities with Bitcoin but has some crucial differences. For example:

• A unique Litecoin mining hashing function
• Faster block generation time
• A larger maximum coin supply

Litecoin and Bitcoin both use Proof of Work (PoW) as their consensus method. Miners compete to solve complex mathematical puzzles to earn the right to add valid transaction blocks to their blockchains. Litecoin also shares other features with Bitcoin and serves as a valuable testnet for new Bitcoin protocols.

Litecoin excels in speed and transaction processing, making it a practical and scalable transaction platform. In contrast, Bitcoin has evolved more as a store of value. A key difference between them is their hashing function, which converts data into unique numerical sequences.

Litecoin is now one of the world's most recognized and used blockchain payment networks. Many consider it a complement to Bitcoin rather than a competitor, often referring to it as "the silver to Bitcoin's gold."

An open source platform

Litecoin is managed by a dedicated group of developers who collaborate through social media and GitHub, a code-sharing platform. As an open-source network, anyone can freely copy and modify the code for various purposes, including creating their cryptocurrency. However, for most people, using existing cryptocurrencies is sufficient.

The LTC token

Litecoin can be used to pay for goods and services, often through payment processors that accept cryptocurrencies on behalf of retailers and merchants. Additionally, Litecoin is widely traded on major cryptocurrency exchanges, making its market one of the most liquid in the world.

The Technology Behind LTC

While Litecoin was not the first cryptocurrency to copy and modify Bitcoin's code, it is one of the more historically significant ones. Those familiar with how Bitcoin works will likely find Litecoin easy to understand.

Litecoin uses cryptography to enable the ownership and exchange of its cryptocurrency (LTC), and its software sets a hard limit of 84 million LTC. This is the maximum number of LTC coins that can ever be created.

A maximum supply

Litecoin has a maximum supply of 84 million LTC, and the amount of new LTC entering the market is regularly reduced. This predictable, limited supply makes Litecoin popular among traders, who believe that its value will rise as fewer new coins become available. Additionally, Litecoin often follows the growth of Bitcoin when Bitcoin's price rises.

High speed

Litecoin has an average block time of 2.5 minutes, which is about four times faster than Bitcoin. This is made possible by the Scrypt hashing algorithm, which governs the security and transaction recording in Litecoin's decentralized ledger. This fast block time makes Litecoin suitable for retail transactions, as retailers can afford to wait for confirmations in just a few minutes, as opposed to the approximately ten minutes required by Bitcoin.

Litecoin mining

Mining Litecoin operates similarly to other proof-of-work (PoW) cryptocurrencies. Each Litecoin transaction is confirmed and processed by miners who deploy their computer's computational power to mine blocks that form the Litecoin blockchain. Once a block is verified, it is added and linked to the previous block in the chain. Miners who successfully create a new block are rewarded with a set amount of LTC, and this reward is halved approximately every four years.

Benefits of Litecoin

Why do investors choose Litecoin? Here are some of the key reasons:

• One of the oldest, most stable, and popular coins
• Transactions are much faster compared to Bitcoin
• Increasingly accepted as a global payment method
• Established, reliable system with good liquidity
• Very low transaction fees

Drawbacks of Litecoin

What are the disadvantages of Litecoin that you should consider?

• Faces stiff competition as a "Bitcoin alternative"
• Less suited as a store of value platform
• There is much less development activity around Litecoin compared to other cryptocurrencies

Who is the founder of Litecoin?

Litecoin was founded by Charlie Lee, a former Google employee. He introduced Litecoin to the market in 2011 as an alternative cryptocurrency and is considered the founder and creator of Litecoin.

Price forecasts

In 2026 experts expect a minimal price of €246.08 and a minimal price of €813.48 in 2031.

Frequently asked questions