undefined ($LTC) Price, Wiki, Data and Crypto News

< Back to Coins

**What is Litecoin? (LTC)** \n \n Released under the MIT/X11 license, Litecoin is a peer-to-peer facing cryptocurrency and open-source global payment structure. One that is independent of control or oversight by any central authority of any kind. Litecoin is also considered to be one of the foremost derivatives of Bitcoin’s original open-source code, as its founder and former Google engineer Charlie Lee, called Litecoin the __[“Lite version of bitcoin”](https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=47417.0)__

All +/- % changes are for a 24 hour window

Price

$99.71-1.50%

Market Cap

$7,511,329,103-2.00%

Trading Volume

880,500,736.173-36.65

Circulating Supply

75,332,780.80+0.0047%

Litecoin is a __[peer-to-peer (P2P)](https://hackernoon.com/p2p-sectors-boisterous-growth-prospects-could-lead-it-to-becoming-the-next-crypto-hype-ti1e3xvj)__ virtual currency that is fully __[decentralized](https://hackernoon.com/an-introduction-to-the-decentralized-internet)__. Litecoin's network guarantees instant, low-fee cost payments to users around the world. Like __[bitcoin](https://hackernoon.com/this-time-is-different-part-2-what-bitcoin-really-is-ae58c69b3bf0)__, litecoin uses a __[Proof of work](https://hackernoon.com/proof-of-work-is-a-tried-and-true-solution)__ system to ensure safety and expedite transactions. ## **History** Litecoin was created in 2011 by Charlie Lee, a Google employee, and became among the very first __[altcoins](https://hackernoon.com/top-10-altcoins-for-2019-5debc64ebb37)__. Lee released Litecoin via an open-source client on GitHub on October 7, 2011. The Litecoin network went live on October 13, 2011. This was amid rising concern about how difficult it was becoming to successfully mine Bitcoin, and the somewhat long transaction periods (10+ minutes). \ Litecoin was released as a Bitcoin fork, on the same exact core but with a few ‘upgrades’ to it. This was because Lee wanted to emulate a similar network, but with faster payments in mind. Litecoin made the block generation time four times faster than bitcoin. Instead of 10 minutes, it takes only 2.5 minutes per block. Litecoin network uses a different consensus mechanism, called “__[scrypt](https://hackernoon.com/an-introduction-to-key-derivation-functions-argon2-scrypt-and-pbkdf2-g23s32is)__,” which isn’t so demanding in terms of resources when mining. \ Due to its more fluid nature, litecoin has been forked severally and has been used as an experiment for other crypto products like atomic swap, Litecoin cash, and Dash among others. Most of the current atomic swaps are thanks to these litecoin experiments that enabled developers to test and advance the technology. \ While many altcoins from the period 2011-2013 have now disappeared, Litecoin has remained in the market thanks to some minor modifications compared to Bitcoin, but still useful and well thought out. \ In 2018 through its foundation, the Litecoin Foundation, Litecoin acquired a 9.9% stake in German-based WEG Bank AG. The bank has since been developing litecoin products and services. In May 2020, the Litecoin Foundation reached an agreement with Atari to explore new ways to connect __[cryptocurrencies](https://hackernoon.com/whats-a-crypto-currency-really-is-fa93a3efadb4)__ and gaming. ## **Biggest Claim to Fame** Describing itself as an affordable and ‘better’ Bitcoin gave Litecoin some edge as those who could not fully adopt into the Bitcoin system finally had an alternative to turn to. The price of Litecoin experienced its first bull run in 2017 when the price grew almost 5,800% from around $3 to $355 in that year. \ By strategically positioning themselves as a bitcoin alternative, many investors got into Litecoin mainly as a form of diversifying their crypto holdings. It is also notable that whenever Bitcoin had a slump - a scandal or the xlikes, Litecoin capitalized and expanded itself to leverage. The transaction period, ease of making payments, and ability to support other technologies have helped drive litecoin as a somewhat ‘upgraded’ BItcoin. ## **Biggest Criticism** In 2017, the crypto market was on an upward spiral, with almost every other coin experiencing a bull run, Litecoin wasn’t an exception. LTC increased from around $3 to nearly $355 during those days. At its peak, Charlie Lee made a controversial move by selling his stack of Litecoins. This was received with a lot of criticism, doubt, and insecurity from the crypto community. To the community, it seemed as though Lee was unsure of his own product and he was looking for a way out of it. Lee came out to defend himself saying that he made that decision so that he isn’t financially pegged to the Litecoin ecosystem. He went further to state that it would enable him to make sound decisions for the coin without the influence of wanting to make a profit for himself. ## **Team** Litecoin is made up of many developers and resource personnel, most of whom prefer to lay low. \ Charlie Lee is the Founder/creator of Litecoin. He holds a Bachelor’s and Masters's from MIT in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. He was working for Google on YouTube, Chrome OS, and Play Games before he left to fully focus on Litecoin. Since joining the crypto sphere he has also been involved in other projects like __[Coinbase](https://hackernoon.com/how-to-use-coinbase-f8ef08feb300)__. \ Adrian Gallagher has been with the project since its inception in 2011 and has been tirelessly working on maintaining the code of Litecoin since. Adrian grew to become the lead developer of Litecoin, and maintained its core system. He’s fully committed to Litecoin and was the first to be hired as a full-time developer by the Litecoin foundation. ## **Conclusion** After all the years, Litecoin is still an interesting option for cryptocurrency investors thinking of diversifying their portfolio. Even though Bitcoin and __[Ethereum](https://hackernoon.com/understanding-ethereum-a-complete-guide-6f32ea8f5888)__ are likely to remain as the most sought-after crypto coins, __[Litecoin cannot be ignored](https://hackernoon.com/comparing-cryptocurrencies-bitcoin-vs-litecoin-vs-ethereum-k33t359l)__. \ Like any other coin, investing in Litecoin has loads of risks that investors ought to familiarise themselves with before investing. Litecoin still remains competitive with a range of rival coins and __[blockchains](https://hackernoon.com/wtf-is-the-blockchain-1da89ba19348)__ continually innovating and rapidly developing. It is uncertain the level of resilience and Morphin that litecoin can endure to keep up with these. \ Regardless, Litecoin's existence and offering as a reliable network with low fees and high utilization among investors are substantial to put Litecoin in the lamplight \ __[Read more Litecoin stories on HackerNoon](https://hackernoon.com/tagged/Litecoin)__

Litecoin STORIES AROUND THE WEB