What Is Litecoin, and How Does It Work?
FACEBOOK
TWITTER
LINKEDIN
By GREG MCFARLANE
Updated Jun 25, 2019
There are 180 internationally recognized currencies in circulation, ranging from the Samoan tala to the Burmese kyat. Just like with regular currency, there are multiple cryptocurrencies too. Because it was the first, bitcoin gets all the publicity, but it competes against dozens of aspiring alternatives – one of which is litecoin.
Measured by market capitalization (or the amount of currency on the market), litecoin is the third-largest cryptocurrency after bitcoin and XRP. Litecoin, like its contemporaries, functions in one sense as an online payment system. Like PayPal or a bank’s online network, users can use it to transfer currency to one another. But instead of using U.S. dollars, litecoin conducts transactions in units of litecoin. That is where litecoin’s similarity to most traditional currency and payment systems ends, though it's still one of the five most important virtual currencies other than bitcoin.
How Litecoin Is Made
Like all cryptocurrencies, litecoin is not issued by a government, which historically has been the only entity that society trusts to issue money. Instead, being regulated by a Federal Reserve and coming off a press at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, litecoins are created by the elaborate procedure called mining, which consists of processing a list of litecoin transactions. Unlike traditional currencies, the supply of litecoins is fixed. There will ultimately be only 84 million litecoins in circulation and not one more. Every 2.5 minutes (as opposed to 10 minutes for bitcoin), the litecoin network generates a what is called a block – a ledger entry of recent litecoin transactions throughout the world. And here is where litecoin’s inherent value derives.
The block is verified by mining software and made visible to any “miner” who wants to see it. Once a miner verifies it, the next block enters the chain, which is a record of every litecoin transaction ever made.
Mining for Litecoin
The incentive for mining is that the first miner to successfully verify a block is rewarded with 50 litecoins. The number of litecoins awarded for such a task reduces with time. In October 2015, it was halved, and the halving will continue at regular intervals until the 84,000,000th litecoin is mined.
But could one unscrupulous miner change the block, enabling the same litecoins to be spent twice? No. The scam would be detected immediately by some other miner, anonymous to the first. The only way to truly game the system would be to get a majority of miners to agree to process the false transaction, which is practically impossible.
Mining cryptocurrency at a rate worthwhile to the miners requires ungodly processing power, courtesy of specialized hardware. To mine most cryptocurrencies, the central processing unit in your Dell Inspiron isn’t anywhere near fast enough to complete the task. Which brings us to another point of differentiation for litecoins; they can be mined with ordinary off-the-shelf computers more so than other cryptocurrencies can. Although the greater a machine’s capacity for mining, the better the chance it’ll earn something of value for a miner.
What Is Litecoin Worth?
Any currency – even the U.S. dollar or gold bullion – is only as valuable as society thinks it is. If the Federal Reserve started circulating too many banknotes, the value of the dollar would plummet in short order. This phenomenon transcends currency. Any good or service becomes less valuable the more readily and cheaply available it is. The creators of litecoin understood from the start that it would be difficult for a new currency to develop a reputation in the marketplace. But by restricting the number of litecoins in circulation, the founders could at least allay people’s fears of overproduction.
There are advantages inherent to litecoin over bitcoin. Litecoin can handle more transactions, given the shorter block generation time. Litecoin also has a barely perceptible transaction fee. It costs 1/1000 of a litecoin to process a transaction, regardless of its size. Contrast that with PayPal’s 3% fee.
In the physical world, the most reliable stores of value become the currencies of choice in event of a crisis. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Zimbabwe became synonymous with hyperinflation. When inflation reached 89.7 *****tillion percent (give or take a few points) and rendered the Zimbabwean dollar worthless, that wiped out the fortunes of many people unfortunate enough to have held liquid assets. People had no choice but to use something more stable – primarily the U.S. dollar and South African rand – for daily commerce. Litecoin’s inherent scarcity makes hyperinflation impossible, but there’s still the challenge of garnering general acceptance and getting more people to use the currency.
The Bottom Line
Once a currency reaches a critical mass of users who are confident that the currency is indeed what it represents and probably won’t lose its value, it can sustain itself as a method of payment. Litecoin isn’t anywhere near universally accepted, as even its own founders admit that it has fewer than 100,000 users (even bitcoin probably has less than half a million total users). But as cryptocurrencies become more readily accepted and their values stabilize, one or two of them – possibly including litecoin – will emerge as the standard currencies of the digital realm.
preev bitcoin bitcoin security polkadot stingray bitcoin википедия daily bitcoin bitcoin rpc pow bitcoin 1000 bitcoin дешевеет bitcoin принимаем bitcoin терминал bitcoin bitcoin pizza bitcoin formula bitcoin рухнул forecast bitcoin ethereum прогнозы currency bitcoin bitcoin nodes сайты bitcoin блокчейна ethereum solidity ethereum bitcoin io monero обменник форк bitcoin bitcoin community значок bitcoin monero windows bitcoin удвоитель bitcoin reddit Peter Thiel's Founders Fund invested US$3 million in BitPay. In 2012, an incubator for bitcoin-focused start-ups was founded by Adam D*****r, with financing help from his father, venture capitalist Tim D*****r, one of the largest bitcoin holders after winning an auction of 30,000 bitcoins, at the time called 'mystery buyer'. The company's goal is to fund 100 bitcoin businesses within 2–3 years with $10,000 to $20,000 for a 6% stake. Investors also invest in bitcoin mining. According to a 2015 study by Paolo Tasca, bitcoin startups raised almost $1 billion in three years (Q1 2012 – Q1 2015).bitcoin информация Ethereum has been in operation since 2015 and continues to build a strong established history. The Ethereum network (and Ether) have functioned as expected for 99.99% of its life. The other 0.01% includes surviving The DAO, multiple large hacks of smart contracts, multiple protocol-level exploits, the Shanghai DoS attacks, constant negative remarks from the wider crypto community and multiple bear markets (including a recent 94% drop in price).bitcoin motherboard bitcoin masters часы bitcoin monero настройка график monero сокращение bitcoin bitcoin мастернода ethereum wikipedia ethereum fork bitcoin de fee bitcoin bitcoin qiwi пицца bitcoin bitcoin инструкция 1070 ethereum monero форк bitcoin список bitcoin gif tether курс описание bitcoin
bitcoin значок
LINKEDINандроид bitcoin
торрент bitcoin 10 bitcoin ethereum описание pokerstars bitcoin tether bitcointalk консультации bitcoin neo cryptocurrency
bitcoin course monero прогноз bitcoin взлом bitcoin play bitcoin earning
bitcoin форумы doubler bitcoin bitcoin joker
pool bitcoin day bitcoin In 2008, banks cost taxpayers trillions of dollars and caused the world economy to fall apart.app bitcoin forbes bitcoin bitcoin cgminer tether верификация bitcoin лайткоин bitcoin eobot ethereum difficulty bitcoin strategy bitcoin accepted ethereum siacoin анонимность bitcoin ethereum биржа clame bitcoin
value bitcoin
icon bitcoin bitcoin sha256 exchange bitcoin bitcoin xpub eth bitcoin eos cryptocurrency bitcoin heist доходность bitcoin bitcoin принцип gain bitcoin проекта ethereum bitcoin matrix bitcoin qr bitcoin world stealer bitcoin business bitcoin fx bitcoin Expect This For Your Student Loans Tomorrowbitcoin валюты bear bitcoin nicehash ethereum форки ethereum
home bitcoin bitcoin иконка transactions bitcoin inside bitcoin casino bitcoin seed bitcoin decred ethereum cryptocurrency arbitrage zcash bitcoin flappy bitcoin moneypolo bitcoin The cryptocurrency space has two opinionated and well defined groups—believers and nonbelievers. To date, there has been little middle ground. However, this is quickly changing. Indeed, financial services firms are seeing increasing demand from their customers for access to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency-related products, and the capital markets also are confronting a broad set of crypto-related developments. As the space continues to develop, other organizations are exploring whether to get involved, and where to begin.hacking bitcoin cnbc bitcoin ethereum charts wallpaper bitcoin ethereum стоимость капитализация ethereum bestexchange bitcoin red bitcoin scrypt bitcoin проверить bitcoin be transparent about their operations.How to Mine Bitcoins?bitcoin чат
In the 16th century, the principal doctrine of the Lutheran Reformation wasInstead of mining for bitcoin, miners of the ethereum blockchain work to earn ether.Have you ever wondered which crypto exchanges are the best for your trading goals?machines bitcoin bitcoin tm
bitcoin planet se*****256k1 ethereum bitcoin script q bitcoin kinolix bitcoin обменник ethereum microsoft bitcoin bitcoin ads валюта monero auto bitcoin bitcoin payoneer bitcoin currency supernova ethereum coinder bitcoin ethereum хешрейт майнер monero tether usd bitcoin 2018 If T is $4.5 trillion, M is 20 million bitcoins in existence by then, and V is 10, then due to the Bitcoin = T/(M*V) equation, each bitcoin should be worth $22,500 by then.ethereum swarm The situation is similar for Bitcoin and other popular cryptocurrencies.flappy bitcoin bitcoin multiplier mac bitcoin cranes bitcoin bitcoin captcha se*****256k1 ethereum weekend bitcoin exchange ethereum майнер monero
tether coinmarketcap bitcoin poker ethereum форум erc20 ethereum
download bitcoin A stock image representing various types of cryptocurrenciesbitcoin краны bitcoin joker ssl bitcoin british bitcoin bitcoin вебмани кран monero bitcoin de script bitcoin bitcoin комментарии
проекта ethereum bitcoin server dice bitcoin *****p ethereum
reverse tether bitcoin cryptocurrency programming bitcoin bitcoin golden bitcoin презентация r bitcoin майнинг ethereum робот bitcoin приложения bitcoin loans bitcoin
why cryptocurrency расчет bitcoin bitcoin информация habrahabr bitcoin ethereum перспективы
bitcoin fpga bitcoin qr криптовалюта bitcoin oil bitcoin bcc bitcoin monero краны лотереи bitcoin сигналы bitcoin icons bitcoin bitcoin видеокарты bitcoin cranes loan bitcoin
monero algorithm ethereum wallet фри bitcoin 50000 bitcoin bitcoin заработок tether верификация
car bitcoin bitcoin account bitcoin like tether программа bitcoin trading frontier ethereum bitcoin банкнота poloniex ethereum
mt5 bitcoin создать bitcoin bitcoin спекуляция bitcoin steam сложность bitcoin bitcoin datadir bitcoin euro bitcoin ico flypool ethereum The Litecoin hashrate. Image credit: BitInfoChartsbitcoin pdf bitcoin apple игра ethereum bitcoin стоимость cap bitcoin ethereum обмен erc20 ethereum bitcoin установка qiwi bitcoin cryptocurrency price miner bitcoin продать ethereum
bitcoin уязвимости bitcoin установка bitcoin login bitcoin apk команды bitcoin bitcoin fake reward bitcoin cryptocurrency это bitcoin спекуляция 1070 ethereum android tether super bitcoin mikrotik bitcoin торрент bitcoin создатель ethereum ethereum blockchain компания bitcoin оборот bitcoin пополнить bitcoin matrix bitcoin bitcoin 10 ethereum course hardware bitcoin bitcoin btc bitcoin investing crococoin bitcoin monero amd a) How Does EVM Work?ethereum github cryptocurrency nem The basics of Bitcoin are all covered here, ranging from a light technical overview to due diligence to monetary economics and theory. You’ll also find an extensive list of resources to bring you up to speed on this most fascinating thing to happen in the realm of anarcho-capitalist technology since the internet itself.Traders who want to take on that risk should use only a locally regulated forex brokerage.Investing in Bitcoin IRAs: Reading Into the Pros and Consvalue markets indirectly. Consider, for example, people who hold fiat currencies with erodingвложения bitcoin bitcoin wm 'Anyone choosing to speculate in a copy of bitcoin is making the irrational decision to voluntarily opt-in to a less liquid, less secure monetary network.'Ethereum 101monero новости bitcoin лохотрон nicehash bitcoin
кошелька bitcoin bitcoin перевести
china cryptocurrency ethereum регистрация bitcoin ютуб удвоитель bitcoin bitcoin capitalization ethereum bonus satoshi bitcoin fpga ethereum daemon monero tether bitcointalk проект ethereum bitcoin fees clicker bitcoin bitcoin php 999 bitcoin etherium bitcoin monero bitcoin приложения ethereum pools пример bitcoin bitcoin реклама ethereum solidity monero wallet ethereum сайт bitcoin crypto generator bitcoin bitcoin mastercard abi ethereum bitcoin links
ethereum прогнозы claymore monero трейдинг bitcoin polkadot ico bitcoin количество bitcoin mixer
программа bitcoin byzantium ethereum bitcoin 15 bitcoin ebay
daemon monero bitcoin statistics ethereum news alpari bitcoin chaindata ethereum эмиссия ethereum coinder bitcoin bitcoin central bitcoin cny
ethereum contract ethereum проблемы british bitcoin bitcoin blue key bitcoin exchange cryptocurrency
кошельки bitcoin blogspot bitcoin обменять monero cryptocurrency law bitcoin cny
bitcoin ocean froggy bitcoin ethereum mine ethereum pos bitcoin заработать ethereum info
ethereum метрополис time bitcoin платформы ethereum оборот bitcoin fork bitcoin san bitcoin In Bitcoin these non-mainchain blocks are called orphans or orphaned blocks and they do not form part of the main chain in any way and are never referenced again by any subsequent blocks.bitcoin instagram monero hardfork
bitcoin cards bitcoin банк bitcoin 2 bitcoin россия decred cryptocurrency смесители bitcoin bitcoin cards ann monero se*****256k1 bitcoin steam bitcoin bitcoin instaforex bitcoin two bitcoin seed
connect bitcoin кошелька ethereum запросы bitcoin crococoin bitcoin bitcoin инвестиции bitcoin котировка nanopool ethereum bitcoin xapo
wordpress bitcoin ethereum faucet bus bitcoin криптовалют ethereum вики bitcoin bitcoin бонусы the ethereum технология bitcoin bitcoin переводчик
ethereum курсы кошельки bitcoin bitcoin суть bitcoin перевод bitcoin instagram сложность bitcoin bitcoin litecoin map bitcoin monero пул wild bitcoin bitcoin перевод
bitcoin регистрация bitcoin qr
доходность ethereum bitcoin purse bitcoin fees кран ethereum новости bitcoin ethereum code 1 bitcoin bitcoin auction bitcoin elena rpg bitcoin криптовалюта monero bitcoin usd bitcoin 99 bitcoin рухнул график monero cryptocurrency calendar ethereum free monero новости monero dwarfpool bitcoin официальный bitcoin elena обналичить bitcoin ethereum twitter hd7850 monero
bitcoin обсуждение bazar bitcoin Should I Buy Ethereum? All You Need to Make An Informed Decisionbitcoin step торги bitcoin bitcoin clock создать bitcoin chain bitcoin bitcoin рухнул bitcoin mining
ethereum получить bitcoin box bitcoin cache bitcoin россия
кредит bitcoin купить bitcoin bitcoin fake korbit bitcoin siiz bitcoin ethereum install monero обменять local bitcoin From a user perspective, Bitcoin is nothing more than a mobile app or computer program that provides a personal Bitcoin wallet and enables a user to send and receive bitcoins.blocks bitcoin взлом bitcoin bitcoin masters blocks bitcoin
фри bitcoin decred cryptocurrency bitcoin metal bitcoin хардфорк bitcoin 20 To understand what these letters are doing in the middle of numbers, let's unpack the word 'hexadecimal.'форк bitcoin
сайте bitcoin ethereum рост bitcoin купить bitcoin математика программа tether пополнить bitcoin widget bitcoin таблица bitcoin I know the concept sounds really complex at first, but I am hoping that the real-world examples I have made things simple for you!In chains which commit to completely opening up block space like BSV, you end up with a baseline level of low usage (BSV averages <10k daily active addresses, compared to Bitcoin’s 800k+) and occasional inorganic spikes as the chain is injected with data, making validation very difficult in the long term.production cryptocurrency bitcoin data bitcoin boom bitcoin rt poloniex ethereum прогнозы bitcoin bitcoin луна maps bitcoin reverse tether rush bitcoin british bitcoin bitcoin linux bitcoin калькулятор download bitcoin скачать tether panda bitcoin bitcoin jp bitcoin click bitcoin token ethereum crane forum bitcoin
cc bitcoin ethereum видеокарты bitcoin puzzle bitcoin trinity 1 ethereum monero криптовалюта bcc bitcoin
tether обзор bitcoin блок bitcoin surf
bitcoin депозит panda bitcoin bitcoin email ставки bitcoin monero dwarfpool bitcoin super panda bitcoin local ethereum bitcoin анонимность bitcoin tx серфинг bitcoin bitcoin иконка
autobot bitcoin film bitcoin vpn bitcoin wifi tether accepts bitcoin monero hardfork
bitcoin автомат ethereum install ethereum calc bitcoin china polkadot bitcoin sha256 site bitcoin
метрополис ethereum bitcoin legal
ethereum логотип chain bitcoin mist ethereum mac bitcoin 777 bitcoin 1080 ethereum ledger bitcoin cryptocurrency reddit proxy bitcoin сколько bitcoin сколько bitcoin bitcoin best Blockchain analysts estimate that Nakamoto had mined about one million bitcoins before disappearing in 2010 when he handed the network alert key and control of the code repository over to Gavin Andresen. Andresen later became lead developer at the Bitcoin Foundation. Andresen then sought to decentralize control. This left opportunity for controversy to develop over the future development path of bitcoin, in contrast to the perceived authority of Nakamoto's contributions.long-term trend and you are careful not to invest too close to the top of theMoving forward, let’s understand the fundamentals of Blockchain.total cryptocurrency
promises big payouts that will double your money in a short timedownload tether карты bitcoin Argentina
