litecoin (ltc)
what is 'litecoin'?
Litecoin (LTC) is an Altcoin based on the concept of Bitcoin. It offers faster transaction speeds and improved memory efficiency.
Litecoins creator Charlie Lee
While the creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto is unknown the opposite is true for Litecoin. Charlie Lee a former Google employee had the vision to create a lighter version of Bitcoin.
What's the difference between Bitcoin and Litecoin?
Litecoin went live on the 13th of October 2011. It was a fork from the Bitcoin. Litecoin is known as “Digital Silver” whereas Bitcoin is known as “Digital Gold”. Let’s compare them from a technical perspective.
Litecoin is by definition a fork of Bitcoin. But what are the other differences? Both have a proof-of-work algorithm. Bitcoin has its SHA-256 hash function and Litecoin its Scypt. The hash function Scrypt (pronounced as script) from Litecoin also utilizes the SHA-256 algorithm but in a more efficient way.
How does the Scrypt function work?
The hash function from Bitcoin processes all transactions in parallel which requires more and more computing power. However, Litecoin does it the other way with its Scrypt function. Scrypt is serialized which means it processes every transaction one by one, as a result, Litecoin requires less memory in its Blocks. As a consequence, Litecoin mining becomes possible for the average person which doesn’t have to buy specialized mining equipment. But sadly for the average guy, this won’t last forever. Companies in the mining industry are already building more specialized Litecoin hardware.
How long does a Litecoin transaction take?
Since the average block creation time is 2.5 minutes, Litecoin can confirm much faster transactions than Bitcoin. The transaction time depends on the confirmations. Litecoin can confirm 56 transactions per second, which reduces the average transaction time to 30min. Compared to the 78min of Bitcoin.