Litecoin: The Digital Silver to Bitcoin’s Gold

Litecoin: The Digital Silver to Bitcoin’s Gold

~ Digital currency, Cybersecurity.

Bitcoin’s success story inspired many other cryptocurrencies to emerge and Litecoin is one of such currencies. Most of the cryptos that emerged after Bitcoin were created as an improvement on what the first successful digital currency set out to do while others are more complementary to Bitcoin. Those that are complementary to Bitcoin simply exist alongside the leading crypto just like silver exists next to gold.

Litecoin is commonly seen by crypto enthusiasts as the digital silver to the digital gold which is Bitcoin. Litecoin emerged in 2011 as a lighter version of Bitcoin with transaction time that’s four times faster than Bitcoin’s. In 2011, an ex-Google employee known as Charlie Lee created the cryptocurrency. He felt that there were too many flaws with the Bitcoin code such as the failure of Bitcoin to speed up transactions, scalability issues and how Bitcoin is mined. He believed that creating a lighter version of Bitcoin is the best way to achieve his goal of resolving the issues he identified with Bitcoin. So, Charlie Lee had to execute what’s known as a hard fork. In case you’re not sure what a hard fork means, a fork has to do with changes made to a blockchain to enhance its operations.

A fork could be a soft or hard fork. A soft fork refers to changes and upgrades that are made to a blockchain while the older version still recognizes the new block rules. The bitcoin blockchain has gone through several soft forks. Before any type of upgrade is made to a blockchain, it has to go through a voting system because the entire network is decentralized.

The second type of fork takes place when drastic changes need to be made and the only way such changes can take place is the creation of a separate blockchain. This is what happened in the case of Litecoin and that’s why Litecoin is very similar to Bitcoin. It’s a global payment system which implies that you can send and receive funds internationally and locally with Litecoin without intermediaries like banks.

Litecoin isn’t the first crypto to copy Bitcoin’s code and make changes to its features. However, it is among the historically significant digital assets out there that are creating a robust market amid criticism that it doesn’t have a clear value proposition. Litecoin succeeded in cutting down on the time needed for new blocks of transactions to be added to the Litecoin blockchain.

The goal is to make the coin more attractive to merchants who had to wait for several confirmations before a bitcoin payment can be seen as final. The team behind Litecoin took a step further to adopt a more aggressive approach to development by coming out with exciting features such as Lightning Network and Segregated Witness which is now live in Bitcoin.

The market has seen the efforts Litecoin has made as consistent with its values. One thing that has made Litecoin different from other cryptocurrencies is that it has maintained its position as a complement to Bitcoin and not in any kind of competition.

How Litecoin Works

Based on market capitalization, Litecoin ranks as number five on CoinMarketCap and it functions as an online payment system like a bank’s online network or PayPal. Users can transfer currency to each other without fiat money like the dollars or euro but with Litecoin. You can identify the coin with its ticker symbol LTC. The coin isn’t issued by a central authority but created via mining.

The total number of Litecoin that will ever exist is 84 million and the network generates a block every 2.5 minutes (unlike Bitcoin which is 10 minutes). You would require a few cents to send Litecoin to anyone — whether the person lives in the same city as you or in a different continent. Since the coin is decentralized, owners of Litecoin have complete control of their funds. So, if you own Litecoin, then you don’t need to fill out forms before you’re allowed to send your coins.

Litecoin’s maintenance is now carried out by Lee and other members of the Litecoin Foundation. The Foundation is focused on working to ensure the development and adoption of the digital asset.
What makes LTC Valuable?

Since the total supply of LTC is limited to 84 million with a periodic reduction in the amount of LTC that the network can introduce into its economy, users do not have any reason to be afraid. The coin is popular among traders due to its finite supply and predictable supply. So, with a reduction in the supply of the coin, traders believe the value will increase.
You can pay for goods and services with Litecoin by using some of the payment processors that accept other digital currencies like Bitcoin on behalf of merchants. Litecoin is quite popular and if you’re interested in buying Litecoin, you can get it in most exchanges like Binance, Kraken, Bittrex, Coinbase and several others.

Litecoin transactions are cheaper and quicker than Bitcoin’s however, it’s always a good idea to do your research and learn more before investing in any digital asset. If you would like to know more about Litecoin and other top cryptos, get a copy of “The Digital World of Crypto Riches.” The crypto space is fast growing with new cryptos emerging almost every week. You can get a good review of top cryptos and save yourself the stress of doing the research all over again. It’s a bit challenging to summarize a digital asset like Litecoin with such few words, but this article should give you a basic knowledge of Litecoin and how it works.

~ The official website of Litecoin is https://litecoin.org/