What is Litecoin? Litecoin is a blockchain-based decentralized digital cryptocurrency same as Bitcoin. Lіtесоіn is an Open source global payment network and рееr-tо-рееr сrурtосurrеnсу software project released under MIT/X11 lісеnѕеѕ which allows non-zero-cost payments in a globe.

Litecoin is similar to Bitcoin having the same encryption technology to create and transfer funds to authorize the transaction. In Litecoin, ledgers store all information and once its transaction is confirmed, it can’t be deleted or even modified. People who are interested in cryptocurrency investment other than Bitcoin and Ethereum, Litecoin will be a popular choice.

Due to availability and lesser price, it is called as “Silver” cryptocurrency and Bitcoin is “Gold” cryptocurrency.

“If Bitcoin is Gold then Litecoin is Silver”

Also Read: What Is Bitcoin And How It Works

Birth of Litecoin

Bitcoin is created by an Ex-Google employee Charlie Lee on October 7, 2011, and got live in a network on October 13, 2011, with the vision of creating a lighter version of Bitcoin. Charlie Lee is one of the top active people on different social media’s and Blogs.

Benefits of Litecoin

Litecoin has fast processing speed likely every block is processed in 2.5 minutes means 4x faster than bitcoin and this is the main goal, to reduce the timing of block confirmation so that more transactions can take place. It clearly means that in a single day 14, 400 Litecoins are being mined. Its algorithm is difficult to crack.

Litecoin is having huge market growth. On December 18, 2017, Litecoin touched too high and it was almost $360.93. As compared to the price in the year 2016, it was $4.40 it means almost 8200% growth in one year.

The Scrypt Algorithm used by Litecoin is difficult to crack due to its proof-of-work model. It confirms a secure and faster transaction. Litecoin is a digital cryptocurrency if we compared the processing fees of Litecoin that is lesser than other bank transfer and credit card.

Litecoin works on Blockchain Technology, so it records all the information and stores it permanently and also confirms the information is distributed to all peers in the network. Litecoin works in p2p connections as a result of no need of middle person or server due to this it reduces the cost of the transaction. The transaction speed of Litecoin is faster as compared to Bitcoin. As a result, a transaction takes lesser time and is secure that is why transaction fees are less and cheaper.

The Difference of Litecoin and Bitcoin

Source: Coindesk

Algorithm:

Both Bitcoin and Litecoin work on the proof-of-work algorithm. But the difference is, Bitcoin uses the SHA256 algorithm whereas Litecoin works on a newer Scrypt Hashing algorithm.

The Number of Coins that Each Cryptocurrency Can Produce:

In Bitcoin, one transaction added in the ledger takes 10 minutes where Litecoin, having the fastest speed to confirm one transaction in 2.5 minutes. A total of 84 million Litecoins will be created and presently 61 million Litecoin is created in Litecoin’s Algorithm and it has a 4-times max capacity than Bitcoin. Due to the faster speed, Litecoin produces max coins as compared to Bitcoin.

A Bitcoin network will exceed a maximum of 21 million coins, whereas Litecoin can billet up to 84 million coins.

The real-world importance of these algorithms are impacted by the process of mining new coins. Both cryptocurrencies need substantial computing power to confirm transactions. SHA-256 is usually reflected to be a complex algorithm than Scrypt, while at the same time allowing a greater degree of parallel processing.

Market Capital:

Bitcoin’s market capitalization is more than $67 billion, whereas Litecoin’s market capitalization is below $3 billion.

Future of Litecoin in Crypto Market:

Litecoin is the fifth-largest cryptocurrency, with a market capitalization of more than $12 billion dollars. The price of Litecoin was always higher in the crypto market

The value of Litecoin saw a committed and increasing dangerous run at the start of 2019. The market capital of Litecoin in the year 2019 originated with 200 percent higher and that also in only 6 months.

Investors who want to trade for longterm in cryptocurrency are having a choice of Litecoin with the goal to acquire max profit.

Litecoin’s price was $4 in March 2017 to a high of $320 in less than a year, providing 80x returns to its investors.

How to Buy or Purchase LTC:

Step 1: Create an account (From any official Website)

Step 2: Verify your identity

Step 3: Get a Litecoin wallet

Step 4: Find an exchange that sells Litecoin

Step 5: Deposit money and make the trade

For a couple of years, Blockchain which is the underlying technology of Bitcoin is gaining a huge amount of popularity. As there are various DAPPs and mind-blowing technologies written each week, somewhat you can say that there are huge amount of new aspects to lookout for.

For any individual who is simply starting with blockchain technology or any kind of development related to it. They will have numerous choices to select from. So, let’s check some of them.

Interesting Blockchain Technologies

1) Bitcoin

Introduced first by Satoshi Nakamoto in the year 2008 and written in his white paper, it simply caught the attention of the mainstream media. This so called Britcoin’s blockchain utilizes UTXOs (Unspent Transaction Outputs) mechanism. Here the major components related to the Bitcoin technology is Descriptions, Transaction ID, Inputs and Outputs and Meta data. Each transaction that you receive will have certain inputs and it will even create some outputs too. In addition, you can even embed certain data in such transactions. 

2) Ethereum

The brainchild of Vitalik Buterin, Etheruem’s first public implementation is called as Frontier. This was released somewhat in the mid-2015. There is a Turing-whole virtual kind of machine called EVM. Do you know the major improvement with regard to the Bitcoin blockchain? It is the basic ability to develop Smart Contracts.

There are various languages present in the Ethereum such as Solidity, LLL, Serpent, etc which the common supported languages present in this community are.  There has been a growing interest for the Ethereum from various industries and communities. One of the major innovations present in the Ethereum is the easily and basic simplicity of using smart contacts to develop tokens. This can represent certain physical assets like Gold, Fiat currency, computational hours, company shares, and the list goes on.

3) Hyperledger

The Hyperledger is one of the incubation project utilized for DLT (Distributed Ledger Technologies) by the Linux Foundation. There are three major incubation projects related to the Hyperledger which are Sawtooth, Fabric, and even Corda.

Even though the Fabric is the implementation of the IBM, still the Sawtooth is created by the Corda and Intel. Here, the Fabric is quite necessary as a private version of the blockchain, where the nodes of the network will work and form a private chain and even help in sharing data.   

4) Ripple

One of the blockchain technologies which simply focus on financial applications and settlement is the Ripple. This is created from the ground up, making it easy for you integrate with the existing infrastructure of the banking sector without distributing the integration of the overhead.

For few years, Ripple, the private firm has been developing this so called protocol and they have seen some good results from customers in terms of financial institutions and banks. Here the basic protocol is ILP (Interledger Protocol) and this simply helps the banks to make payment through various ledgers and networks all around the world.

5) Zcash

Here the latest shiny thing present in the land of the Bitcoin and blockchain is the Zcash. The best and easiest followers of the Zero-Knowledge proof are the Zcash. There have certain criticisms of this technology by users in terms of the public nature of transactions.

All the basic transaction can be easily traced to the original address and this simply leads to a huge issue, like revealing the amount of assets one has.  However, as it is built on the Britcoin Core’s codebase there is less chance for your personal information getting revealed.

Conclusion

In short, it is simply clear that such technology i.e blockchain is only attractive to certain tech companies but there are certain major players like IBM and Microsoft who have been taking notice of it.  So, let’s wait and watch how this works. 

I have to admit that I've been late to truly understanding blockchain. Blockchain is making inroads in the financial sector, but will also be an important part of the IoT.  I've been wanting to dive deep for a few months now but have never gotten around to it...until today. If you're like me, you have some technical depth, but blockchain and Bitcoin have been more buzzwords to know than technologies and tools that you truly grasp. You can change that today by watching these six videos.

Added bonus: all videos are less than 30 minutes in length!

What is Blockchain? <-- Two minute starter video put together by the World Economic Forum.

Security Implications of Non-Financial Uses of Blockchain Technology <-- Recorded at RSA Security Conference 2017, Dr. Tom Keenan gets it done in 10 minutes.

Genius of Things: Blockchain and Food Safety with IBM and Walmart  <-- Practical implications and use cases from two big names.

DisrupTV Featuring Steve Wilson, Constellation Research 2.10.17 <-- Great overview from a smart group of analysts. 

TED Talk: How the blockchain is changing money and business <-- by Don Tapscott

Blockchain 101 - A Visual Dem <-- This video by Anders Brownworth gets deeper and is a great primer for the mathematically inclined. Brownworth co-taught the blockchain class at MIT.

If you don't have time to watch the videos, but want the skinny right now, Constellation Research Analyst Steve Wilson breaks it down here in 500 words, with no graphics, and no analogies.