Friday, December 6, 2024
Altcoins

Let There Be Litecoin

What is Litecoin (LTC)? In definition, it is a рееr-tо-рееr сrурtосurrеnсу аnd open ѕоurсе software project released under MIT/X11 lісеnѕеѕ. The developer – Charlie Lee – formerly from Google and crypto exchange engineer – launched it in 2011. While Lee sold his Litecoin during the crypto bubble’s last peak, he claims he intended this move to resolve any conflict of interest. He remains a managing director at the Litecoin Foundation. 

Essentially, this is just another decentralized cryptocurrency. However, although it is similar to the original cryptocurrency that inspired it, it is significantly quicker and cheaper than Bitcoin. But will it continue the meteoric rise it has had in the past? And what do investors expect of LTC in the next few years?  

Is Litecoin Better?

As we all already know, Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency. The invention of Bitcoin inspired a massive movement of cryptocurrency development. The aim was not just to create more cryptocurrencies to compete with Bitcoin. Developers wanted to create cryptocurrencies that improve upon Bitcoin technology. 

One way in which altcoins tried to improve Bitcoin technology is by speeding up transactions. LTC was the first cryptocurrency to reach significantly faster transactions successfully. Thus it is considered a financial asset with excellent long-term potential. 

Technical Talk

So what makes Litecoin faster? It is nearly identical to Bitcoin from a technical perspective. The most significant difference between the two cryptocurrencies has to do with their block generation time. While Bitcoin takes 10 minutes to generate a block, Litecoin takes only 2.5 minutes. In financial terms, this is a tremendous improvement.  

Another noticeable difference is the lighter design of Litecoin, hence its name “Lite Coin.” LTC has a finite amount – just like Bitcoin, making it scarce and more valuable than cryptocurrencies with no cap. 

Litecoin: the Journey

In 2019 Litecoin was at the top of the performance charts for crypto assets. It even beat Bitcoin. Due to Litecoin’s halving – a miner reward of reduction in the block, which was pre-programmed into the system, caused a severe price spike. The soaring prices caused over 600% returns before it started correcting. 

The future of LTC 

Fortunately, Litecoin started regaining strength by the start of 2020, while the rest of the market was stagnant. The 140% rally at the beginning of the year caused many eyes to turn the Litecoin way, and many projections to show a bright future. 

Some experts go as far as to say that Litecoin will go past $1000 in the long run. Some experts predict it’ll even go over $2000 by 2030.