What is Litecoin
Litecoin is a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency that has become quite popular since its inception in 2011.
As a form of digital money that uses blockchain to maintain a public ledger of all transactions, Litecoin is used to transfer funds directly between individuals or businesses without the need for an intermediary such as a bank or payment processing service.
How Litecoin is created
Like all cryptocurrencies, Litecoin is not issued by a government, which has historically been the only entity trusted by the public to issue money. Instead, cryptocurrency is created through a more complex procedure called mining. Unlike traditional currencies, the supply of Litecoin is fixed. Ultimately, there will only be 84 million LTC coins in circulation. Every 2,5 minutes (as opposed to Bitcoin's 10 minutes), the Litecoin network generates a block. And that's where its intrinsic value comes from.
One of Litecoin's main goals was to reduce the block confirmation time from 10 minutes to 2,5 minutes so that more transactions could be confirmed. This made this network 4 times faster than Bitcoin. Every 2,5 minutes a block is mined and 25 coins are generated. This means that currently 14 LTC are mined every day.
How much is Litecoin worth?
Any currency – even the US dollar or gold bullion – is only as valuable as society deems it to be. If the Federal Reserve starts issuing too many notes, the value of the dollar will fall for a negative time. Any good or service becomes less valuable when it becomes easy and cheap to obtain. The creators of Litecoin understood this from the beginning. By limiting the number of LTC in circulation, the founders could eliminate people's fears of overproduction.
There are advantages inherent to Litecoin over Bitcoin. LTC can handle more transactions given the shorter block generation time. Litecoin also has a barely noticeable transaction fee. It costs 1/1000 of LTC to process a transaction, regardless of its size. Compare that to PayPal's 3% fee.
Founder of Litecoin
LTC was created by Charlie Lee in October 2011. Lee is a former Google and Coinbase employee whose idea was to complement Bitcoin by solving some of its problems such as transaction time, fees, and more. Charlie Lee took the core code from Bitcoin and made his own changes to make the protocol work in a way that he believed would best enable widespread adoption of the currency. In other words, his idea was to make a "lighter" version of Bitcoin.
On December 18, 2017, Litecoin reached its all-time high of $360,93, which compared to the price of a year ago ($4,40) was an incredible 8200% increase. This has fully impacted the booming cryptocurrency market, which has seen its total market capitalization shoot from $17,7 billion to around $650 billion in just one year – an increase of over 3%.
Litecoin Mining
Bitcoin uses SHA-256 (Secure Hash Algorithm 2), which is considered comparatively more complex. Litecoin uses a memory-intensive algorithm called a script.
Different severance algorithms mean different hardware and you need to make sure your mining rig meets the right specifications for Litecoin production.
Litecoin as a future tool
LTC is often compared to Bitcoin, which functions almost the same, minus the transaction costs, which are about 1/50 the size. For many cryptocurrency traders and users, Litecoin prices act more rationally than Bitcoin and predict a more stable future.
Litecoin trading
The rise in popularity of LTC and other cryptocurrencies is largely in response to the demand for alternative currency options that have nothing to do with centralized banks and governments.
The other side of the demand is from traders and investors who have realized the huge potential that cryptocurrencies can offer.
How to buy Litecoin?
1. Choose a crypto exchange
There are numerous cryptocurrency exchanges and exchanges that range from easy-to-use systems to complex dashboards for advanced traders.
Because Litecoin is so popular, most cryptocurrency exchanges will be able to purchase the token, but it is recommended that you stick to a few of the more popular exchanges such as Binance, Kraken, Coinbase, etc. Different platforms come with different fees, security measures, and may include other features, so it's a good idea to do your research before signing up.
2. Create an account and verify it
Get started with account registration, which is completely free on the aforementioned platforms. For additional security, 2FA - two-factor authentication - is also activated. That way, you and your device are the only ones who can give access to the account.
It then goes through a KYC process, which involves providing personal information – ID card / passport / driving license details, proof of address (eg bank statement or utility bill).
After completing these steps, you are ready to buy, sell and trade Litecoin (LTC) as well as take advantage of various services such as staking.
3. Fund your account
Once your account is registered and verified, you need to deposit funds into the account in order to start using the platform's buying and trading services.
The main deposit options are:
- Credit/debit card
- Bank deposit
- Peer-to-peer (P2P)
Where to buy Litecoin?
On Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, deposits are absolutely free.
Withdrawal fees from the platform are as follows:
If you have opted for direct account funding, depending on which fiat currency you use, the deposit fees are:
You can also buy Litecoin from our sponsors – cryptomat.io!
