Litecoin is a P2P cryptocurrency and open source software project. It is launched under MIX/X11 license. After getting inspired by Bitcoin (BTC), litecoin was introduced. Litecoin enables instant, near-zero cost payment to anyone in the world. The algorithm used in Litecoin is SHA- 256 algorithm which is much complex algorithm than comparing to Bitcoin. The creation and transfer of coins are based on an open source cryptographic protocol and is decentralized.

Litecoin gained a lot of attention as part of investing frenzy which cryptocurrency has been. As stated in CNBC report “Litecoin has grown to the extent of 5800 percent and earns its place in the big five cryptocurrencies along with Ethereum, Ripple, IOTA, and Dash”. Litecoin is decentralized, as it doesn’t have any authorized authority to control it. As Litecoin is an open source software project which is based on blockchain module, the blockchain is a public ledger of sorts which records every transaction. This ensures that litecoin doesn’t cheat or bogus the users.

Journey

Charlie Lee, a former Google employee, released Litecoin through an open-source client on Github in the year 2011.

Litecoin network becomes into existence on October 13, 2011.

Litecoin was derived from Bitcoin Core Client which differs primitively by having a decreased block generation time. It increases the maximum number of coins that differs from hashing algorithm.

On November 2013, the cumulative value of Litecoin rapidly grew that includes a 100% leap within 24 hours and reached a $1 billion market capitalization.

In May 2017, Litecoin becomes the first top- 5 market cryptocurrencies which have adopted Segregated witnesses.

After few days, Litecoin transferred 0.00000001 LTC from Zurich to San Francisco within one second.

Features

Litecoin is the second cryptocurrency after Bitcoin, It is a replica made by the Chinese. It is well-known and is available on all major exchanges. Litecoin has accepted many Bitcoin payment platforms like Coinbase.

Litecoin Network aims to process a block every 2.5 minutes. Litecoin is claimed to process faster transactions when compared to other cryptocurrencies.

Litecoin utilizes scrypt in its proof-of-work algorithm, a sequential memory-hard function.

Litecoin is an open software project which is released under MIT/X11 license that helps the user to operate, modify and copy the software. A transparent process is utilized to release software which verifies binaries and their corresponding source code.

The blockchain of Litecoin has the capacity to handle higher transactions volume than its Bitcoin. The network supports more transactions without modifying the software.

Litecoin has wallet encryption which allows users to secure his wallet. The user can view his transactions and check the account balance. The wallet encryption of litecoin has password system and the user must enter the password before enquiring the transactions system.

The miners are rewarded with 25 new litecoins per block; it is an amount which user receives once in every 4 years.

Litecoin was invented with a goal of being the silver to bitcoin’s gold. Litecoin has the highest market cap of mined cryptocurrency after Bitcoin. Even though Litecoin is superior to Bitcoin it has few draw which is as follows: