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What is Litecoin?

“Litecoin is a powerful, political and economical tool which anyone, anywhere can use without permission to transact with anyone else in the world and partake in a genuinely global economy.”

Franklyn Richards – CEO Litecoin Haus

A very short history

Litecoin is an open-source peer to peer cryptocurrency. Sorry, that sounds unnecessarily complicated. Simply put it is a digital currency that runs independently of any government or financial institution.

It was created by Charlie Lee, an ex-employee of Google in 2011.

His objective? Create a cryptocurrency that makes up for the seeming gaps of Bitcoin and to complement the coin.

Litecoin and Bitcoin are built on the same code type, think of it as a branch of Bitcoin, but it is not a fork of Bitcoin.

Is it different from Bitcoin?

Litecoin gets its name from its speed, which is its major differentiating point. It is 4 times faster than Bitcoin. As opposed to the 10 minutes it takes to carry out a transaction on the Bitcoin network, it takes 2.5 minutes to carry out a transaction on the Litecoin network.

Another major difference between Litecoin and Bitcoin are the coin limits. Based on the plan there will only ever be 84 million units of Litecoin in circulation compared to Bitcoin’s 21 million.

What You Can do with Litecoin

Except for very few differences, Litecoin serves the same purpose as Bitcoin.

Litecoin is known as a payment method or means of transaction across the world. It uses the same encryption techniques as bitcoin to transfer, create funds and to confirm transactions.

An increase in the adoption of Bitcoin could lead to an increase in the adoption of Litecoin. Especially, as it is more suitable for smaller transaction amounts.

Bitcoin was created to be a method of payment. But its volatility has sort of sidelined it to function as a store of value. Litecoin, on the other hand, can function as a means of payment in Bitcoin’s stead.

In some circles, Bitcoin is referred to as gold while Litecoin is described as silver. This idea came from Charlie Lee himself: “My analogy with gold and silver is related to that idea where gold and silver were used as money at certain times in history. Gold was used mostly as a store of value whereas silver was mostly used in coins for purchases. So yes, you can use a gold coin to purchase, but it’s not as convenient.”

 

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