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{{ infobox currency {{infobox cryptocurrency
| image_1 = Litecoin Accepted Here.png | currency_name = Litecoin
| image_1 = 6 Full Logo S-2.png
| image_title_1 = "Litecoin Accepted Here" logo
| image_width_1 = 130 | image_2 =
| image_2 = Litecoin Client Overview Tab.jpg | image_title_1 = Official Litecoin logo
| subunit_ratio_1 = {{frac|1|1000}}
| image_title_2 = Litecoin ] (overview tab)
| subunit_name_1 = lites,<ref>renaming of mLTC/μLTC to lites/photons https://github.com/litecoin-project/litecoin/pull/375 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211208102643/https://github.com/litecoin-project/litecoin/pull/375 |date=2021-12-08 }}</ref> millilitecoin, mŁ
| image_width_2 = 150
| subunit_ratio_2 = {{frac|1|1000000}}
|issuing_authority = None. The Litecoin ] network regulates and distributes through consensus in ].
| subunit_name_2 = microlitecoins, photons, μŁ
|date_of_introduction = 7 October 2011
| subunit_ratio_3 = {{frac|1|100000000}}
|date_of_introduction_source =
| subunit_name_3 = litoshis
|using_countries = International
| plural = Litecoins
|inflation_rate = Limited release (], rate halves every 4 years reaching a final total of 84 million LTC)
| symbol = Ł{{cn|date=April 2024|reason=Please include a reliable, independent source for the use of this symbol}}
|inflation_source_date =
| ticker_symbol = LTC
|inflation_method =
| color = {{color test|#bebebe}} {{color test|#ffffff}}
| symbol = Ł
| precision = 10<sup>−8</sup>
|nickname = LTC
| coin_definition =
|subunit_ratio_1 = 0.001
| white_paper =
|subunit_name_1 = mLTC (millicoin)
| implementations =
|subunit_ratio_2 = 0.000001
| initial_release_version = 0.1.0
|subunit_name_2 = μLTC (microcoin)
| initial_release_date = {{Start date and age|df=1|2011|10|07}}
|subunit_ratio_3 = 0.00000001
| latest_release_version = 0.21.4<ref>{{cite web |url=https://blog.litecoin.org/litecoin-core-v0-21-4-release-158f51431635 |title=Litecoin Core v0.21.4 Release |date=7 November 2024 |publisher=litecoin.org |access-date=2024-12-16}}</ref>
|subunit_name_3 = Smallest unit
| latest_release_date = {{Start date and age|df=yes|2023|03|02}}
| plural = Litecoin, litecoins
| code_repository = {{URL|https://github.com/litecoin-project/litecoin}}
| plural_subunit_1 =
| status = Active
| plural_subunit_2 =
| forked_from = ]
|frequently_used_coins =
{{efn|group=infobox|] shouldn't be confused with ] or ].}}
|printer =
| project_fork_of =
|mint =
| programming_languages = ]
| operating_system = ], ], ], ]
| author = ]
| developer = Litecoin Core Development Team
| source_model = ]
| license = ]
| website = {{ofurl}}
| block_explorer =
| ledger_start =
| ledger_genesis =
| split_date =
| split_from =
| hash_function = ]
| circulating_supply = Ł75,310,895 (16 December 2024)<ref name="revolut">{{Cite web |url=https://www.revolut.com/crypto/price/ltc/ |title=Litecoin (LTC) Price Today |access-date=2024-12-16 |website=]}}</ref>
| total_supply =
| supply_limit = Ł84,000,000
| issuing_authority = ], block reward
| issuance =
| issuance_schedule =
| timestamping = ]
| merged_mining_parent =
| block_time = 2.5 minutes
| block_reward = Ł6.25 (as of August, 2 2023), (halved approximately every four years)
| value =
| exchange_rate = US$123.02 (December 2024)<ref name="revolut" />
| market_cap = <!-- Requires a reliable source. -->
| footnotes = {{notelist|group=infobox}}
}} }}
]
'''Litecoin''' (]: '''Ł'''; ]: '''LTC''') is a ] ] and open source software project released under the MIT/X11 license.<ref name="Litecoin.org, April 2013">{{cite web|title=Litecoin.org|url=http://litecoin.org|work=Litecoin.org, April 2013|publisher=Litecoin.org|accessdate=24 April 2013}}</ref> Inspired by and technically nearly identical<ref>(April 13 2013). . ]. The Economist Newspaper. Retrieved April 27 2013.</ref> to ] ('''BTC'''), Litecoin creation and transfer is based on an ] encryption protocol and is not managed by any central authority.<ref name="Litecoin.org, April 2013">{{cite web|title=Litecoin.org|url=http://litecoin.org|work=Litecoin.org, April 2013|publisher=Litecoin.org|accessdate=24 April 2013}}</ref><ref name="Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System">{{cite web|last=Satoshi|first=Nakamoto|title=Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System|url=http://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf|publisher=Bitcoin.org|accessdate=24 April 2013|}}</ref> Litecoin is intended to improve upon Bitcoin <ref name="Bitcoin Isn’t the Only Cryptocurrency in Town, 15th April 2013">{{cite web|last=Simonite|first=Tom|title=Bitcoin Isn’t the Only Cryptocurrency in Town|url=http://www.technologyreview.com/news/513661/bitcoin-isnt-the-only-cryptocurrency-in-town/|accessdate=24 April 2013|}}</ref> and offers three key differences.<ref name="Linux Journal, March 2012">{{cite web|last=Powers|first=Shawn|title=Cryptocurrency: Your Total Cost Is 01001010010|url=http://www.missoulapubliclibrary.org/ftp/LinuxJournal/LJ12-03.pdf|work=Linux Journal, March 2012|publisher=Linux Journal|accessdate=21 October 2012|page=29}}</ref><ref name="The Market Oracle, 17th April 2013">{{cite web|last=BATR|title=Bitcoins Risk Reward|url=http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article39996.html|accessdate=24 April 2013|}}</ref> Firstly, the Litecoin network processes a block every 2.5 minutes, rather than every 10 minutes, which allows for the faster confirmation of transactions.<ref name="Litecoin.org, April 2013">{{cite web|title=Litecoin.org|url=http://litecoin.org|work=Litecoin.org, April 2013|publisher=Litecoin.org|accessdate=24 April 2013}}</ref> Secondly, the Litecoin network will produce 84 million litecoins which is four times as many as currency units as will be issued by the Bitcoin network.<ref name="Litecoin.org, April 2013">{{cite web|title=Litecoin.org|url=http://litecoin.org|work=Litecoin.org, April 2013|publisher=Litecoin.org|accessdate=24 April 2013}}</ref> Thirdly, Litecoin uses ] in its proof-of-work algorithm: a sequential memory-hard function first conceived by Colin Percival, that makes mining easier to carry out on less-sophisticated computers than Bitcoin requires.<ref name="Stronger Key Derivation Via Sequential Memory-Hard Functions">{{cite web|last=Percival|first=Colin|title=Stronger Key Derivation Via Sequential Memory-Hard Functions|url=http://www.tarsnap.com/scrypt/scrypt.pdf|accessdate=24 April 2013|}}</ref><ref name="Litecoin.org, April 2013">{{cite web|title=Litecoin.org|url=http://litecoin.org|work=Litecoin.org, April 2013|publisher=Litecoin.org|accessdate=24 April 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Dan Goodin |title=Potent DDoS attacks on Mt. Gox delay rollout of new virtual currency|url=http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/04/potent-ddos-attacks-on-mt-gox-delays-rollout-of-new-virtual-currency/ |publisher=Ars Technica|accessdate=27 April 2013}}</ref> Each litecoin is subdivided into 100,000,000 smaller units, defined by eight decimal places.


'''Litecoin''' (]: '''LTC'''; ]: '''Ł''') is a decentralized ] ] and ] project released under the ]. Inspired by ], Litecoin was among the earliest ], starting in October 2011.<ref name="WIRED">{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/2013/08/litecoin/|title=Ex-Googler Gives the World a Better Bitcoin|magazine=WIRED|access-date=2017-10-25|language=en-US|archive-date=2018-07-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180709221218/https://www.wired.com/2013/08/litecoin/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Gibbs |first1=Toby |last2=Yordchim |first2=Suwaree |date=2014 |title=Thai Perception on Litecoin Value |url=https://instructor.ssru.ac.th/suwaree/file.php/1/Thai-Perception-on-Litecoin-Value.pdf |journal=International Journal of Social, Education, Economics and Management Engineering |volume=8 |issue=8 |pages=2589–2591 |access-date=2022-07-14 |archive-date=2022-07-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220722110804/https://instructor.ssru.ac.th/suwaree/file.php/1/Thai-Perception-on-Litecoin-Value.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> In technical details, the Litecoin main chain shares a slightly modified ] codebase. The practical effects of those codebase differences are lower transaction fees,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Miglietti |first1=Cynthia |last2=Kubosova |first2=Zdenka |last3=Skulanova |first3=Nicole |date=20 May 2019 |title=Bitcoin, Litecoin, and the Euro: an annualized volatility analysis |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334425756 |journal=Studies in Economics and Finance|volume=37 |issue=2 |pages=229–242 |doi=10.1108/SEF-02-2019-0050 |s2cid=199363476 }}</ref> faster transaction confirmations,<ref name=":0" /> and faster mining difficulty retargeting. Due to its underlying similarities to Bitcoin, Litecoin has historically been referred to as the "silver to Bitcoin's gold."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mandjee |first=Tara |date=2014 |title=Bitcoin, its legal classification and its regulatory framework. |url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/bussecul15&div=10&id=&page= |journal=Journal of Business & Securities Law |volume=15 |access-date=2022-07-15 |archive-date=2022-07-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220715012410/https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/bussecul15&div=10&id=&page= |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Jumaili |first1=Mustafa Lateef Fadhil |last2=Karim |first2=Sulaiman M |date=2021 |title=Comparison of two cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin and Litecoin |journal=Journal of Physics: Conference Series |volume=1963 |issue=1 |pages=7|doi=10.1088/1742-6596/1963/1/012143 |bibcode=2021JPhCS1963a2143J |s2cid=236441485 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name=":1">Ismail, Ashiana. "Permissioned blockchains for real world applications." PhD diss., 2020.</ref> In 2022, Litecoin added optional privacy features via soft ] through the MWEB (] extension block) upgrade.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Hake |first=Mark R. |date=February 14, 2022 |title=Litecoin Should See Broader Appeal With New Privacy Technology |url=https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/litecoin-should-see-broader-appeal-with-new-privacy-technology |access-date=July 14, 2022 |website=Nasdaq |archive-date=July 15, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220715020408/https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/litecoin-should-see-broader-appeal-with-new-privacy-technology |url-status=live }}</ref>
==Transactions==
A peer-to-peer network similar to Bitcoin's handles Litecoin's transactions, balances and issuance through ], the ] scheme (Litecoins are issued when a small enough ] value is found, at which point a block is created, the process of finding these hashes and creating blocks is called mining).<ref>(21 October 2012). . FishGuy876's Blog. Retrieved April 27 2013.</ref><ref>(21 October 2012). . Retrieved April 27 2013.</ref> The issuing rate forms a ], and the rate halves every 4 years (every 840,000 blocks) reaching a final total of 84 million LTC. The memory intensive nature of Scrypt means that unlike with Bitcoin, Litecoin is better suited for ] mining. ] and ] implementations are more expensive to create for Scrypt than for ] as used by Bitcoin.<ref>{{cite web|last=Coventry|first=Alex|title=Nooshare|url=http://mit.edu/alex_c/www/nooshare.pdf|publisher=MIT|accessdate=21 October 2012|quote=These hash functions can be tuned to require rapid access a very large memory space, making them particularly hard to optimize to specialized massively parallel hardware.}}</ref>


== History ==
Litecoins are currently traded for both ] and bitcoins, mostly on online ]. Reversible transactions (such as those with ]) are not normally used to buy litecoins as Litecoin transactions are irreversible, so there is the danger of ].<ref>(21 October 2012). . Blockchain. Retrieved April 27 2013.</ref><ref name=BTC-E /> As of 25 April 2013, 1 LTC is worth approximately 3.97 ] or 0.028 BTC.<ref name=BTC-E>{{cite web|title=LTC/USD|url=https://btc-e.com/exchange/ltc_btc|publisher=BTC-E|accessdate=25 April 2013}}</ref><ref name=Vircurex>{{cite web|title=BTC/LTC|url=https://vircurex.com/welcome/index?base=btc&alt=ltc|publisher=Vircurex|accessdate=15 April 2013}}</ref>{{Update after|2013|4|27}} This makes Litecoin the second largest cryptocurrency by ] with a cap of 35,000,000 ]. <ref>(15 April 2013). . ].</ref>


=== Pre-Litecoin ===
==History==
By 2011, Bitcoin mining was largely ].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Browne |first=Ryan |date=2017-12-20 |title=Litecoin founder Charlie Lee says he's sold all his holdings in the cryptocurrency |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/20/litecoin-founder-charlie-lee-sells-his-holdings-in-the-cryptocurrency.html |access-date=2024-02-01 |website=CNBC |language=en |archive-date=2021-02-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210202150717/https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/20/litecoin-founder-charlie-lee-sells-his-holdings-in-the-cryptocurrency.html |url-status=live }}</ref> This raised concern in some users that mining now had a high barrier to entry, and that ] resources were becoming obsolete and worthless for mining. Using code from Bitcoin, a new alternative currency was created called ''Tenebrix'' (TBX). Tenebrix replaced the ] rounds in Bitcoin's mining algorithm with the '']'' function,<ref name="elsevier">{{cite book |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=May 5, 2015 |title=Handbook of Digital Currency: Bitcoin, Innovation, Financial Instruments, and Big Data |publisher=] Science |page= |isbn=9780128023518 |editor-last1=Lee |editor-first1=David}}</ref> which had been specifically designed in 2009 to be expensive to ].<ref>{{cite web|title=scrypt page on the Tarsnap website|url=http://www.tarsnap.com/scrypt.html|access-date=21 January 2014|archive-date=28 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190528073159/https://www.tarsnap.com/scrypt.html|url-status=live}}</ref> This would allow Tenebrix to have been "GPU-resistant", and utilize the available CPU resources from bitcoin miners. Tenebrix itself was a successor project to an earlier cryptocurrency which replaced Bitcoin's issuance schedule with a constant block reward (thus creating an unlimited money supply).<ref name="elsevier" /> However, the developers included a clause in the code that would allow them to claim 7.7 million TBX for themselves at no cost, which was criticized by users.<ref>{{cite book |last=Deng |first=Robert H. |date= 3 August 2017|title=Handbook of Blockchain, Digital Finance, and Inclusion, Volume 1: Cryptocurrency, FinTech, InsurTech, and Regulation |location=United Kingdom |publisher=] Science |page= |isbn=9780128104422}}</ref>
Litecoin was released via an ] ] on ] on October 7th 2011.<ref name="Abe Search">{{cite web|title=Search Results: Litecoin|url=http://explorer.litecoin.net/|publisher=Abe Search|accessdate=20 October 2012}}</ref> The current version of this client (as of 19th April 2013) is v0.6.3c.<ref>. 21st October 2012.</ref>{{Update after|2012|10|21}}


To address this, ], a ] employee who would later become engineering director at ],<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://techcrunch.com/2017/12/20/litecoin-charlie-lee-conflict-of-interest/|title=Litecoin founder Charlie Lee has sold all of his LTC|work=TechCrunch|access-date=2018-08-20|language=en-US|archive-date=2021-02-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210221213913/https://techcrunch.com/2017/12/20/litecoin-charlie-lee-conflict-of-interest/|url-status=live}}</ref> created an alternative version of Tenebrix called ''Fairbrix'' (FBX).<ref name="WIRED" /> Litecoin inherits the scrypt mining algorithm from Fairbrix, but returns to the limited money supply of Bitcoin, with other changes.
Other clients have also been released.<ref>. 21st October 2012.</ref>


=== Creation and launch ===
More recently Litecoin has been covered in the news as a ] alternative.<ref>(April 13 2013). . ].</ref>
Lee released Litecoin via an open-source ] on ] on October 7, 2011.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Blockchain economics and financial market innovation: financial innovations in the digital age |date=2019 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-030-25275-5 |editor-last=Hacıoğlu |editor-first=Ümit |series=Contributions to economics |location=Cham |page=213}}</ref> The Litecoin network went live on October 13, 2011.


Litecoin was a ] of the ] client, originally differing by having a decreased block generation time (2.5 minutes), increased maximum number of coins, different ] (], instead of ]), faster difficulty retarget, and a slightly modified ].{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}}
==Development==
The Litecoin Developers have a new release 0.8.1 in the works which will help to modernize and enhance the network. This major upgrade will include all enhancements made in recent ] releases.


==Criticism== === 2011–2016 ===
After launch, the early growth of Litecoin was aided by its increasing exchange availability and liquidity on early exchanges such as ]. During the month of November 2013, the aggregate value of Litecoin experienced massive growth which included a 100% leap within 24 hours.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/525867/20131128/litcoin-value-leaps-100-percent-market-cap.htm|title=Litecoin value leaps 100% in a day as market cap passes $1bn|work=International Business Times, UK Edition|first=Alistair|last=Charlton|date=2013-11-28|access-date=2013-12-16|archive-date=2013-12-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203023044/http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/525867/20131128/litcoin-value-leaps-100-percent-market-cap.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Cizek |first=Jakub |url=https://dspace.cuni.cz/bitstream/handle/20.500.11956/64877/BPTX_2013_2_11230_0_387819_0_150032.pdf?sequence=1 |title=Bitcoin as a leader of crypto-currencies: A predictability study |publisher=Charles University |page=11 |access-date=2024-02-01 |archive-date=2024-02-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240201223556/https://dspace.cuni.cz/bitstream/handle/20.500.11956/64877/BPTX_2013_2_11230_0_387819_0_150032.pdf?sequence=1 |url-status=live }}</ref>
{{Criticism section|date=April 2013}}
{{Unreferenced section|date=April 2013}}
==== Redundancy ====
Some believe that Litecoin does not provide any features over what ] already provides, so they believe Litecoin is unlikely to match or surpass Bitcoin's value or user base.


In early 2014, Lee suggested merge mining (auxPOW) ] with Litecoin to the Dogecoin community at large. In September 2014, Dogecoin began merge-mining with Litecoin.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Murdock |first=Jason |date=2021-04-14 |title=How to mine dogecoin as 129 billion tokens in circulation |url=https://www.newsweek.com/dogecoin-how-mine-cryptocurrency-explained-129-billion-tokens-circulation-1583515 |access-date=2022-07-13 |website=Newsweek |language=en |archive-date=2022-07-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220713132230/https://www.newsweek.com/dogecoin-how-mine-cryptocurrency-explained-129-billion-tokens-circulation-1583515 |url-status=live }}</ref>
==== Vulnerability to mining monopoly ====
Similarly to ], Litecoin can be attacked by an entity that can match or exceed the hash rate of the network, though such a ] becomes more difficult to launch and maintain as the hash rate of the network grows. Some have argued that because Litecoin is designed to be inefficient on all common computers, a malicious entity need only produce a small batch of specialized hardware to overtake all the commodity mining systems combined. On the other hand, others have argued that the scrypt function simply makes it infeasible to create any specialised hardware, some have also argued that specialised hardware can only strengthen the network, which happened with ] and ].


==== Pump and Dump Scheme ==== === 2017–2021 ===
In 2020, ] added the ability for users to purchase a derivative of Litecoin along with ], ] and ] which could not be withdrawn or spent as part of its Crypto feature.<ref>BBC (2020) "PayPal allows Bitcoin and crypto spending", October 21. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-54630283 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211110133429/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-54630283 |date=2021-11-10 }}</ref><ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220120125607/https://www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mpp/crypto |date=2022-01-20 }}, ].com</ref>
Some people claim that Litecoin is a ], rewarding those who get in sooner at the expense of those who adopt it just before the price falls.


{{anchor|Walmart hoax}}
==See Also==
In September 2021, a fake press release was published on ] announcing a partnership between Litecoin and ]. This caused the price of Litecoin to increase by around 30%, before the press release was revealed as a hoax.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-09-13|title=Walmart denies tieup with litecoin, fake statement rattles cryptocurrency|url=https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/press-release-walmarts-litecoin-partnership-is-fake-cnbc-2021-09-13/|access-date=2021-09-13|website=Reuters|language=en|archive-date=2022-10-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221015150302/https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/press-release-walmarts-litecoin-partnership-is-fake-cnbc-2021-09-13/|url-status=live}}</ref>
{{Portal|Anarchism|Business and economics|Free software|Numismatics}}
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=== 2022–present ===
==References==
In May 2022, MWEB (Mimblewimble Extension Blocks) upgrade was activated on the Litecoin network as a ]. This upgrade provides users with the option of sending confidential Litecoin transactions, in which the amount being sent is only known between the sender and receiver.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-05-20 |title=MWEB Has Officially Activated |url=https://www.litecoin.net/news/mweb-has-officially-activated |website=Litecoin Foundation |access-date=2022-06-01 |archive-date=2022-05-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220526050915/https://www.litecoin.net/news/mweb-has-officially-activated |url-status=live }}</ref>{{primary inline|date=April 2024}}
{{reflist|2}}


In June 2022, ] added the ability for users to transfer Litecoin along with ], ] and ] between PayPal to other wallets and exchanges.<ref>PAYPAL (2022) "PayPal Users Can Now Transfer, Send, and Receive Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin", June 21. https://newsroom.paypal-corp.com/2022-06-07-PayPal-Users-Can-Now-Transfer-Send-and-Receive-Bitcoin-Ethereum-Bitcoin-Cash-and-Litecoin {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220712070554/https://newsroom.paypal-corp.com/2022-06-07-PayPal-Users-Can-Now-Transfer-Send-and-Receive-Bitcoin-Ethereum-Bitcoin-Cash-and-Litecoin |date=2022-07-12 }}</ref>{{primary inline|date=April 2024}}
==External Links==
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== Differences from Bitcoin ==
Litecoin is different in some ways from ]:


* The targeted block time is every 2.5 minutes for Litecoin, as opposed to Bitcoin's 10 minutes. This allows Litecoin to confirm transactions four times faster than Bitcoin.<ref>{{cite news|first=Ian|last=Steadman|date=2013-05-11|url=https://arstechnica.com/business/2013/05/wary-of-bitcoin-a-guide-to-some-other-cryptocurrencies/|title=Wary of Bitcoin? A guide to some other cryptocurrencies|work=Ars Technica|access-date=2014-01-19|archive-date=2014-01-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116040533/http://arstechnica.com/business/2013/05/wary-of-bitcoin-a-guide-to-some-other-cryptocurrencies/|url-status=live}}</ref>
]
* ], an alternative ] algorithm, is used for Litecoin. According to '']'', "Scrypt was chosen because it theoretically prevents the use of ASICs, those specialized chips that greatly increase mining power and efficiency (though there is debate over the validity of this claim).".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/4x3ywn/beyond-bitcoin-a-guide-to-the-most-promising-cryptocurrencies|title=Beyond Bitcoin: A Guide to the Most Promising Cryptocurrencies|author=Alec Liu|date=29 November 2013|access-date=25 April 2024|archive-date=13 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180613111615/https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/4x3ywn/beyond-bitcoin-a-guide-to-the-most-promising-cryptocurrencies|url-status=live}}</ref>
]
* Litecoin is merge mined with another prominent cryptocurrency, Dogecoin.<ref>{{cite web |last1=McGleenon |first1=Brian |title=Why is this crypto token rising amid crash and FTX collapse? |url=https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/crypto-token-crash-ftx-collapse-litecoin-doge-solana-144705733.html |website=Yahoo Finance |access-date=7 December 2022 |date=24 November 2022}}</ref>
]
* Litecoin has a maximum circulating supply of Ł84,000,000, which is four times larger than Bitcoin's maximum circulating supply of '''₿'''21,000,000.{{cn|date=April 2024}}
]
* MWEB optional privacy was added to Litecoin's base layer in May 2022 via soft fork.<ref name=":2" /> This allows amounts held within wallets and transaction amounts within MWEB to be private.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Silveira |first1=Adrián |last2=Betarte |first2=Gustavo |last3=Cristiá |first3=Maximiliano |last4=Luna |first4=Carlos |date=2021-09-04 |title=A Formal Analysis of the Mimblewimble Cryptocurrency Protocol |journal=Sensors |volume=21 |issue=17 |pages=5951 |doi=10.3390/s21175951 |pmid=34502842 |pmc=8434605 |arxiv=2104.00822 |bibcode=2021Senso..21.5951S |issn=1424-8220|doi-access=free }}</ref>
]

]
Third party vendors providing ] for Litecoin include ].<ref name=":3">{{Cite magazine |title=Bitcoin's Dominance of Crypto Payments Is Starting to Erode |url=https://time.com/6139727/bitcoin-crypto-payments/ |access-date=2022-07-16 |magazine=Time |language=en |archive-date=2022-07-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220716025153/https://time.com/6139727/bitcoin-crypto-payments/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

== See also ==
* ]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Litecoin}}
* {{Official website|https://www.litecoin.net/|name=Litecoin Foundation}}

{{Cryptocurrencies|state=expanded}}
{{Currency symbols}}
{{Portal bar|Economics|Free and open-source software|Internet|Numismatics}}

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Latest revision as of 02:12, 16 December 2024

Cryptocurrency
Litecoin
Official Litecoin logo
Denominations
PluralLitecoins
SymbolŁ
CodeLTC
Precision10
Subunits
 1⁄1000lites, millilitecoin, mŁ
 1⁄1000000microlitecoins, photons, μŁ
 1⁄100000000litoshis
Development
Original author(s)Charlie Lee
Initial release0.1.0 / 7 October 2011; 13 years ago (2011-10-07)
Latest release0.21.4 / 2 March 2023; 21 months ago (2023-03-02)
Code repositorygithub.com/litecoin-project/litecoin
Development statusActive
Project fork ofBitcoin
Written inC++
Operating systemWindows, OS X, Linux, Android
Developer(s)Litecoin Core Development Team
Source modelOpen source
LicenseMIT License
Ledger
Timestamping schemeProof-of-work
Hash functionscrypt
Block rewardŁ6.25 (as of August, 2 2023), (halved approximately every four years)
Block time2.5 minutes
Circulating supplyŁ75,310,895 (16 December 2024)
Supply limitŁ84,000,000
Valuation
Exchange rateUS$123.02 (December 2024)
Administration
Issuing authoritydecentralized, block reward
Website
Websitelitecoin.org Edit this at Wikidata
  1. Source code fork shouldn't be confused with hard forks or soft forks.

Litecoin (Abbreviation: LTC; sign: Ł) is a decentralized peer-to-peer cryptocurrency and open-source software project released under the MIT/X11 license. Inspired by Bitcoin, Litecoin was among the earliest altcoins, starting in October 2011. In technical details, the Litecoin main chain shares a slightly modified Bitcoin codebase. The practical effects of those codebase differences are lower transaction fees, faster transaction confirmations, and faster mining difficulty retargeting. Due to its underlying similarities to Bitcoin, Litecoin has historically been referred to as the "silver to Bitcoin's gold." In 2022, Litecoin added optional privacy features via soft fork through the MWEB (MimbleWimble extension block) upgrade.

History

Pre-Litecoin

By 2011, Bitcoin mining was largely performed by GPUs. This raised concern in some users that mining now had a high barrier to entry, and that CPU resources were becoming obsolete and worthless for mining. Using code from Bitcoin, a new alternative currency was created called Tenebrix (TBX). Tenebrix replaced the SHA-256 rounds in Bitcoin's mining algorithm with the scrypt function, which had been specifically designed in 2009 to be expensive to accelerate with FPGA or ASIC chips. This would allow Tenebrix to have been "GPU-resistant", and utilize the available CPU resources from bitcoin miners. Tenebrix itself was a successor project to an earlier cryptocurrency which replaced Bitcoin's issuance schedule with a constant block reward (thus creating an unlimited money supply). However, the developers included a clause in the code that would allow them to claim 7.7 million TBX for themselves at no cost, which was criticized by users.

To address this, Charlie Lee, a Google employee who would later become engineering director at Coinbase, created an alternative version of Tenebrix called Fairbrix (FBX). Litecoin inherits the scrypt mining algorithm from Fairbrix, but returns to the limited money supply of Bitcoin, with other changes.

Creation and launch

Lee released Litecoin via an open-source client on GitHub on October 7, 2011. The Litecoin network went live on October 13, 2011.

Litecoin was a source code fork of the Bitcoin Core client, originally differing by having a decreased block generation time (2.5 minutes), increased maximum number of coins, different hashing algorithm (scrypt, instead of SHA-256), faster difficulty retarget, and a slightly modified GUI.

2011–2016

After launch, the early growth of Litecoin was aided by its increasing exchange availability and liquidity on early exchanges such as BTC-e. During the month of November 2013, the aggregate value of Litecoin experienced massive growth which included a 100% leap within 24 hours.

In early 2014, Lee suggested merge mining (auxPOW) Dogecoin with Litecoin to the Dogecoin community at large. In September 2014, Dogecoin began merge-mining with Litecoin.

2017–2021

In 2020, PayPal added the ability for users to purchase a derivative of Litecoin along with Bitcoin, Ethereum and Bitcoin Cash which could not be withdrawn or spent as part of its Crypto feature.

In September 2021, a fake press release was published on GlobeNewswire announcing a partnership between Litecoin and Walmart. This caused the price of Litecoin to increase by around 30%, before the press release was revealed as a hoax.

2022–present

In May 2022, MWEB (Mimblewimble Extension Blocks) upgrade was activated on the Litecoin network as a soft fork. This upgrade provides users with the option of sending confidential Litecoin transactions, in which the amount being sent is only known between the sender and receiver.

In June 2022, PayPal added the ability for users to transfer Litecoin along with Bitcoin, Ethereum and Bitcoin Cash between PayPal to other wallets and exchanges.

Differences from Bitcoin

Litecoin is different in some ways from Bitcoin:

  • The targeted block time is every 2.5 minutes for Litecoin, as opposed to Bitcoin's 10 minutes. This allows Litecoin to confirm transactions four times faster than Bitcoin.
  • Scrypt, an alternative proof-of-work algorithm, is used for Litecoin. According to Motherboard, "Scrypt was chosen because it theoretically prevents the use of ASICs, those specialized chips that greatly increase mining power and efficiency (though there is debate over the validity of this claim).".
  • Litecoin is merge mined with another prominent cryptocurrency, Dogecoin.
  • Litecoin has a maximum circulating supply of Ł84,000,000, which is four times larger than Bitcoin's maximum circulating supply of ₿21,000,000.
  • MWEB optional privacy was added to Litecoin's base layer in May 2022 via soft fork. This allows amounts held within wallets and transaction amounts within MWEB to be private.

Third party vendors providing point of sale infrastructure for Litecoin include BitPay.

See also

References

  1. renaming of mLTC/μLTC to lites/photons https://github.com/litecoin-project/litecoin/pull/375 Archived 2021-12-08 at the Wayback Machine
  2. "Litecoin Core v0.21.4 Release". litecoin.org. 7 November 2024. Retrieved 2024-12-16.
  3. ^ "Litecoin (LTC) Price Today". Revolut. Retrieved 2024-12-16.
  4. ^ "Ex-Googler Gives the World a Better Bitcoin". WIRED. Archived from the original on 2018-07-09. Retrieved 2017-10-25.
  5. ^ Gibbs, Toby; Yordchim, Suwaree (2014). "Thai Perception on Litecoin Value" (PDF). International Journal of Social, Education, Economics and Management Engineering. 8 (8): 2589–2591. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-07-22. Retrieved 2022-07-14.
  6. Miglietti, Cynthia; Kubosova, Zdenka; Skulanova, Nicole (20 May 2019). "Bitcoin, Litecoin, and the Euro: an annualized volatility analysis". Studies in Economics and Finance. 37 (2): 229–242. doi:10.1108/SEF-02-2019-0050. S2CID 199363476.
  7. Mandjee, Tara (2014). "Bitcoin, its legal classification and its regulatory framework". Journal of Business & Securities Law. 15. Archived from the original on 2022-07-15. Retrieved 2022-07-15.
  8. Jumaili, Mustafa Lateef Fadhil; Karim, Sulaiman M (2021). "Comparison of two cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin and Litecoin". Journal of Physics: Conference Series. 1963 (1): 7. Bibcode:2021JPhCS1963a2143J. doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1963/1/012143. S2CID 236441485.
  9. ^ Ismail, Ashiana. "Permissioned blockchains for real world applications." PhD diss., 2020.
  10. ^ Hake, Mark R. (February 14, 2022). "Litecoin Should See Broader Appeal With New Privacy Technology". Nasdaq. Archived from the original on July 15, 2022. Retrieved July 14, 2022.
  11. Browne, Ryan (2017-12-20). "Litecoin founder Charlie Lee says he's sold all his holdings in the cryptocurrency". CNBC. Archived from the original on 2021-02-02. Retrieved 2024-02-01.
  12. ^ Lee, David, ed. (May 5, 2015). Handbook of Digital Currency: Bitcoin, Innovation, Financial Instruments, and Big Data. Elsevier Science. ISBN 9780128023518.
  13. "scrypt page on the Tarsnap website". Archived from the original on 28 May 2019. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
  14. Deng, Robert H. (3 August 2017). Handbook of Blockchain, Digital Finance, and Inclusion, Volume 1: Cryptocurrency, FinTech, InsurTech, and Regulation. United Kingdom: Elsevier Science. ISBN 9780128104422.
  15. "Litecoin founder Charlie Lee has sold all of his LTC". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 2021-02-21. Retrieved 2018-08-20.
  16. Hacıoğlu, Ümit, ed. (2019). Blockchain economics and financial market innovation: financial innovations in the digital age. Contributions to economics. Cham: Springer. p. 213. ISBN 978-3-030-25275-5.
  17. Charlton, Alistair (2013-11-28). "Litecoin value leaps 100% in a day as market cap passes $1bn". International Business Times, UK Edition. Archived from the original on 2013-12-03. Retrieved 2013-12-16.
  18. Cizek, Jakub. Bitcoin as a leader of crypto-currencies: A predictability study (PDF). Charles University. p. 11. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2024-02-01. Retrieved 2024-02-01.
  19. Murdock, Jason (2021-04-14). "How to mine dogecoin as 129 billion tokens in circulation". Newsweek. Archived from the original on 2022-07-13. Retrieved 2022-07-13.
  20. BBC (2020) "PayPal allows Bitcoin and crypto spending", October 21. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-54630283 Archived 2021-11-10 at the Wayback Machine
  21. Crypto with PayPal is here Archived 2022-01-20 at the Wayback Machine, PayPal.com
  22. "Walmart denies tieup with litecoin, fake statement rattles cryptocurrency". Reuters. 2021-09-13. Archived from the original on 2022-10-15. Retrieved 2021-09-13.
  23. "MWEB Has Officially Activated". Litecoin Foundation. 2022-05-20. Archived from the original on 2022-05-26. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
  24. PAYPAL (2022) "PayPal Users Can Now Transfer, Send, and Receive Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin", June 21. https://newsroom.paypal-corp.com/2022-06-07-PayPal-Users-Can-Now-Transfer-Send-and-Receive-Bitcoin-Ethereum-Bitcoin-Cash-and-Litecoin Archived 2022-07-12 at the Wayback Machine
  25. Steadman, Ian (2013-05-11). "Wary of Bitcoin? A guide to some other cryptocurrencies". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on 2014-01-16. Retrieved 2014-01-19.
  26. Alec Liu (29 November 2013). "Beyond Bitcoin: A Guide to the Most Promising Cryptocurrencies". Archived from the original on 13 June 2018. Retrieved 25 April 2024.
  27. McGleenon, Brian (24 November 2022). "Why is this crypto token rising amid crash and FTX collapse?". Yahoo Finance. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  28. Silveira, Adrián; Betarte, Gustavo; Cristiá, Maximiliano; Luna, Carlos (2021-09-04). "A Formal Analysis of the Mimblewimble Cryptocurrency Protocol". Sensors. 21 (17): 5951. arXiv:2104.00822. Bibcode:2021Senso..21.5951S. doi:10.3390/s21175951. ISSN 1424-8220. PMC 8434605. PMID 34502842.
  29. "Bitcoin's Dominance of Crypto Payments Is Starting to Erode". Time. Archived from the original on 2022-07-16. Retrieved 2022-07-16.

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