Litecoin (LTC) is a decentralized, easy-to-mine and fast-growing cryptocurrency that outperformed many altcoins in 2017.  In December 2017, Litecoin hit its highest price to date, up more than 8000% in value compared to the previous year. Right now it is one of the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap.

This rapid increase in value alongside sensational headlines about the crypto market has caught the attention of miners and investors. It is essentially a carbon copy of Bitcoin but with some notable improvements. With reported transaction times at just a quarter of those for Bitcoin, Litecoin is overall faster and cheaper for people to use.  This makes it an attractive coin for future use in the global economy.

While there are many altcoins being launched yearly, Litecoin has been gaining traction for the last 7 years, becoming an established cryptocurrency.  Despite some recent price fluctuations in the altcoin market, Litecoin has retained its value over less established coins. Because Litecoin is supported by a wide variety of exchanges, it is easy to buy and sell, making it an ideal coin for experienced and novice investors alike.

Having the ability to spend altcoins easily, alongside cheaper and faster transactions, may be what finally gives altcoins the edge over fiat currencies.  With an ever-increasing list of places, you can spend Litecoin, more and more retailers are recognizing its usefulness.

What is Litecoin?

Litecoin, like other cryptocurrencies, is a peer-to-peer, decentralized cryptocoin. This means that Litecoin is not controlled by a central bank or government. Instead, each transaction is saved to the blockchain, a global ledger that verifies all transactions.  

Bitcoin takes around 10 minutes to confirm each transaction. Litecoin, by comparison, takes around a quarter of the time, around two and a half minutes, to confirm a transaction.  This makes it cheaper to use and faster to mine. This is good news for miners looking to join the cryptocurrency revolution.

When did Litecoin appear and how?

Litecoin was created in late 2011 by former Google employee Charlie Lee, who first entered the cryptocurrency market by getting into Bitcoin mining. His vision for Litecoin was to improve the Bitcoin blockchain and to increase the cap on the total coin supply. Coming to life just two years after the creation of Bitcoin, Litecoin has managed to remain one of the top-rated cryptocurrencies.

Charlie believes that Litecoin operates as a complementary cryptocurrency to Bitcoin. This vision would see Litecoin, with its increased availability, being suited to small transactions like online shopping, with Bitcoin being the more suitable currency for heftier transactions, such as international payments.

Charlie Lee continues to take interest in the technology supporting Litecoin.  As of June 2017, he is working full time to oversee the development of the Litecoin cryptocurrency as Managing Director of the Litecoin Foundation. This is reassuring for adopters of Litecoin as continued improvements are being made to improve the technology, with exciting new developments and partnerships on the horizon.  

The recently announced partnership with TenX will bring about a payment platform and l introduce a Litecoin payment card.  This could potentially see Litecoin owners using their cryptocurrency to pay for goods and services at online and traditional retailers, in the same way, they would use their debit cards.

Features and Important issues in the network

Litecoin has a lifetime cap of 84 million coins.  This amount is the total that can be mined and is four times larger than Bitcoin, which has a cap of 21 million coins. As there are fewer bitcoins available, they are more expensive to mine, more valuable and much more difficult for small investors to obtain.  The increased availability and lower price of Litecoin are therefore ideal for those who want to enter the cryptocurrency market.

Litecoin isn’t just good news for investors and miners. Around 3 billion people in the developing world have very limited access to banks and cash machines. Free access to cryptocurrencies could revolutionize banking in these countries, offering an inexpensive way for them to send and receive money and pay for goods.

Litecoin Network Specs

As of June 18, total Litecoin in existence is nearly 57 million with a market capitalization of nearly $5.4 billion, trading at a price of $95.17 USD. Litecoin blockchain can handle higher transaction volume than Bitcoin. Also, the network supports more transactions without requiring any modification to the software in the future. Another fun fact is the average transaction value of 48 LTC or about $4,500. Litecoin blockchain can handle higher transaction volume than Bitcoin. Also, the network supports more transactions without requiring any modification to the software in the future.  The current block time or average time between block creation is 2 minutes 29 seconds via block size of 28 KBytes.

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