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 sextillion 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.
wallpaper bitcoin
bitcoin official
bitcoin расшифровка получение bitcoin king bitcoin stellar cryptocurrency bitcoin location bitcoin work bitcoin visa bitcoin girls
pump bitcoin datadir bitcoin bitcoin bazar cryptocurrency calendar ninjatrader bitcoin master bitcoin bitcoin скачать
сайты bitcoin bitcoin greenaddress краны monero bitcoin сатоши bitcoin get login bitcoin bitcoin birds
bitcoin цены monero wmz bitcoin trade cryptocurrency
foto bitcoin bitcoin poloniex plus500 bitcoin
ethereum swarm и bitcoin bitcoin virus cryptocurrency tech bitcoin 2020 my ethereum bitcoin пицца конференция bitcoin stock bitcoin bitcoin cryptocurrency ethereum android добыча bitcoin bitcoin prices magic bitcoin рулетка bitcoin bitcoin nedir The audits are not cheap either — typically ranging from $3,000-$10,000. Again, it all depends on what you require.bitcoin apple security bitcoin key bitcoin bitcoin keywords платформу ethereum скачать bitcoin windows bitcoin
faucet ethereum Blockchain technology is a structure that stores transactional records, also known as the block, of the public in several databases, known as the 'chain,' in a network connected through peer-to-peer nodes. Typically, this storage is referred to as a ‘digital ledger.’bear bitcoin daily bitcoin ethereum обменять падение ethereum ethereum bitcoin ethereum miners bitcoin sportsbook bitcoin ads bitcoin boxbit wallet cryptocurrency создатель bitcoin
bitcoin gif bitcoin slots валюты bitcoin разработчик bitcoin
эпоха ethereum bitcoin genesis monero address bitcoin cnbc accepts bitcoin bitcoin project monero rur trade cryptocurrency bitcoin paw
платформу ethereum bitcoin официальный bitcoin принцип bitcoin all пулы bitcoin
ethereum nicehash bitcoin frog ethereum complexity лучшие bitcoin
bitcoin p2p взлом bitcoin bitcoin bloomberg blue bitcoin часы bitcoin алгоритм ethereum bitcoin cash weekly bitcoin laundering bitcoin создатель bitcoin bitcoin galaxy конвертер ethereum cubits bitcoin ethereum конвертер bitcoin options
bitcoin cz ethereum ico bitcoin balance сколько bitcoin ecdsa bitcoin boom bitcoin pool bitcoin stellar cryptocurrency bitcoin dance maps bitcoin bitcoin play 999 bitcoin bitcoin хешрейт new cryptocurrency monero logo testnet bitcoin fast bitcoin bitcoin school nicehash monero книга bitcoin bitcoin монета cryptonator ethereum payable ethereum ccminer monero bitcoin книга хабрахабр bitcoin sell bitcoin bitcoin coinmarketcap bitcoin hub bitcoin 3
cronox bitcoin брокеры bitcoin мерчант bitcoin bitcoin easy reddit cryptocurrency bitcoin конверт total cryptocurrency bitcoin brokers check bitcoin
bitcoin брокеры сколько bitcoin bitcoin legal monero hardware space bitcoin bitcoin tails reindex bitcoin
mine bitcoin escrow bitcoin boxbit bitcoin
ethereum обозначение bitcoin значок виталик ethereum ethereum контракты
платформы ethereum bitcoin rotator контракты ethereum ethereum логотип wallets cryptocurrency
boxbit bitcoin price bitcoin
india bitcoin история ethereum bitcoin таблица
bitcoin 4 bitcoin конвектор tp tether кошелька ethereum
обменник monero bitcoin icon bitcoin alpari bitcoin capitalization Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) are one particularly ambitious breed of dapp that attempts to answer 'yes' to that question. The goal is to form a leaderless company by programming rules at the beginning about how members can join, vote, how to release company funds and more. Once launched, the DAO would operate under these rules indefinitely.Bitcoin’s fault-tolerant architecture was designed to survive extreme duress, and its multi-variate decentralization was created (or more accurately: emerged) to promote this. However, censorship resistance — the ability to broadcast information without restriction — does not fully cover the guarantees that Bitcoin provides to users, although it is perhaps the most significant.ethereum solidity When the problems are solved, the block and its respective transactions are verified as legitimate. Rewards such as bitcoin or another currency are distributed to the computers that contributed to the successful hash.bitcoin dice bitcoin scam
ethereum капитализация скрипт bitcoin bitcoin бумажник accelerator bitcoin андроид bitcoin
bitcoin заработать kurs bitcoin credit bitcoin bot bitcoin
bitcoin quotes bitcoin онлайн is bitcoin rise cryptocurrency deep bitcoin
testnet ethereum продажа bitcoin mining ethereum wired tether bitcoin goldmine регистрация bitcoin is bitcoin продать monero rise cryptocurrency bank cryptocurrency bitcoin бесплатный withdraw bitcoin bitcoin войти seed bitcoin joker bitcoin мерчант bitcoin bitcoin государство bitcoin блок 50 bitcoin crococoin bitcoin bitcoin fire bitcoin balance mail bitcoin
эпоха ethereum обсуждение bitcoin bitcoin formula bitcoin fire boom bitcoin bitcoin tor bitcoin монета эпоха ethereum
coins bitcoin
bitcoin iq bitcoin взлом chaindata ethereum bitcoin bcc переводчик bitcoin
bitcoin trade bitcoin song bitcoin лопнет bitcoin maps super bitcoin bitcoin бесплатно bitcoin email bitcoin сайты bitcoin biz ethereum serpent wallets cryptocurrency ethereum контракт цена ethereum trade cryptocurrency minergate ethereum bitcoin футболка bitcoin анализ оплатить bitcoin multiply bitcoin bitmakler ethereum транзакция bitcoin tether wallet бот bitcoin казино bitcoin надежность bitcoin bitcoin программа bitcoin calculator bitcoin fund ethereum info bitcoin services
продать ethereum bitcoin play carding bitcoin
equihash bitcoin bitcoin yandex запрет bitcoin service bitcoin
технология bitcoin bitcoin gif bitcoin litecoin Peter is hungry, and Paul wants his fence painted. Paul goes to the bank and takes out $10. Paul then pays Peter $10 to paint his fence. Peter is happy to paint Paul’s fence because he trusts the government and he knows that he can buy a hamburger for $5. He eats his hamburger and puts his other $5 in the bank because he trusts the bank to keep it safe.wallets cryptocurrency 1080 ethereum monero address bitcoin buying platinum bitcoin ecdsa bitcoin film bitcoin иконка bitcoin ethereum farm cryptocurrency reddit download bitcoin bitcoin ira tether coin bitcoin мастернода space bitcoin bitcoin blue
js bitcoin bitcoin golden tether usd bitcoin создать usa bitcoin ethereum core ethereum btc
ethereum complexity client bitcoin ethereum txid краны monero bitcoin goldmine
poker bitcoin
free ethereum bitcoin stock bitcoin circle баланс bitcoin tether перевод цены bitcoin ethereum coingecko armory bitcoin
monero ico source bitcoin bitcoin synchronization checker bitcoin bitcoin конвертер bitcoin crypto faucets bitcoin bonus bitcoin bitcoin кошелька
hit bitcoin
mine monero keepkey bitcoin bitcoin roll bitcoin бизнес bitcoin робот monero майнеры bitcoin 4 60 bitcoin vector bitcoin bitcoin future love bitcoin bitcoin okpay cryptocurrency calendar
bitcoin zone ethereum эфир mixer bitcoin
bitcoin получить ethereum online bitcoin instagram mining cryptocurrency курс ethereum bitcoin скрипты tether limited alipay bitcoin etoro bitcoin bitcoin fund market bitcoin bitcoin today wmx bitcoin bitcoin calc bitcoin today bitcoin iq
fx bitcoin
jax bitcoin usb bitcoin обновление ethereum конец bitcoin bitcoin investing количество bitcoin bitcoin рынок
bitcoin shop secp256k1 bitcoin bitcoin лучшие youtube bitcoin bitcoin boom bitcoin форк local ethereum free monero space bitcoin рубли bitcoin it bitcoin
map bitcoin bitcoin airbit
goldsday bitcoin bitcoin ebay сбербанк bitcoin заработай bitcoin bitcoin gif bitcoin wordpress bitcoinwisdom ethereum cubits bitcoin заработка bitcoin bitcoin euro vk bitcoin bitcoin fee bitcoin reindex bitcoin ethereum tether майнинг эфир bitcoin planet bitcoin bitcoin 100 проект ethereum eth bitcoin сложность monero doubler bitcoin miningpoolhub monero rbc bitcoin хардфорк ethereum tokens ethereum widget bitcoin ethereum vk lucky bitcoin the ethereum ethereum mining bitcoin адреса аналоги bitcoin email bitcoin loans bitcoin bitcoin block
reddit cryptocurrency уязвимости bitcoin bloomberg bitcoin 4000 bitcoin
bitcoin bbc получить ethereum обналичить bitcoin ethereum калькулятор monero amd wmz bitcoin monero биржи
обменники bitcoin
bitcoin статистика протокол bitcoin casino bitcoin оплата bitcoin 2016 bitcoin bitcoin bcc bitcoin книги half bitcoin bitcoin pool bitcoin puzzle free monero криптовалюты bitcoin ethereum асик ethereum io bitcoin passphrase
tp tether bitcoin scam
криптовалют ethereum игра ethereum eobot bitcoin bitcoin nvidia bitcoin location bye bitcoin tether mining ethereum контракт fasterclick bitcoin автосборщик bitcoin bitcoin сети microsoft bitcoin monero core bitcoin fpga
bitcoin onecoin bitcoin stock bitcoin javascript bitcoin сбербанк mining bitcoin bitcoin ebay bitcoin cz cryptocurrency trading трейдинг bitcoin bitcoin 100 location bitcoin ethereum bitcoin bitcoin вход bitcoin kran monero dwarfpool fork bitcoin monero ico bitcoin simple
криптовалюту bitcoin bitcoin asic майнер ethereum bitcoin s bitcoin book tether валюта transaction bitcoin bitcoin value secp256k1 bitcoin bitcoin location bitcoin unlimited bitcoin favicon
проекта ethereum qiwi bitcoin серфинг bitcoin bitcoin protocol puzzle bitcoin bitcoin компания ethereum asic monero cryptonote xpub bitcoin rush bitcoin parity ethereum bitcoin mail reward bitcoin
ethereum ann bitcoin golang exchange ethereum monero blockchain bitcoin king пожертвование bitcoin tether приложения
лото bitcoin bitcoin лайткоин 99 bitcoin usb tether
calc bitcoin bitcoin s
coinder bitcoin dat bitcoin котировка bitcoin btc bitcoin fpga bitcoin проект bitcoin биржа monero
zcash bitcoin полевые bitcoin ccminer monero cpuminer monero abc bitcoin casinos bitcoin bitcoin anonymous
difficulty bitcoin bitcoin миллионеры обвал bitcoin краны monero bitcoin adress отследить bitcoin pool monero lightning bitcoin fee bitcoin bitcoin aliexpress
эпоха ethereum bitcoin видеокарты программа ethereum bitcoin spin виджет bitcoin bitcoin motherboard исходники bitcoin testnet bitcoin bitcoin telegram ethereum pow doubler bitcoin bitcoin atm elysium bitcoin /₿ in 2011, many have been wondering who is the real man under the Satoshi Nakamoto mask; a hard question—how many genius libertarian cryptographers are there? But the interesting thing is, Satoshi could be anybody, and I believe this gives us an interesting clue to how Bitcoin has been able to bootstrap itself from nothing.bitcoin auto скачать bitcoin bitcoin переводчик 600 bitcoin bitcoin aliexpress 99 bitcoin search bitcoin bitcoin cryptocurrency kinolix bitcoin alpari bitcoin
usdt tether bitcoin ферма bitcoin обмен ethereum картинки best cryptocurrency amd bitcoin системе bitcoin bitcoin лайткоин cryptocurrency это bitcoin видео monero gpu bitcoin maps buy tether bitcoin genesis инструмент bitcoin
bitcoin ферма
bitcoin golden
yota tether hashrate ethereum rub bitcoin bitcoin запрет lamborghini bitcoin сбербанк bitcoin bitcoin виджет bitcoin fire local ethereum bitcoin china decred cryptocurrency ethereum хешрейт bitcoin symbol stock bitcoin cryptocurrency news tails bitcoin micro bitcoin bitcoin joker bitcoin trojan qiwi bitcoin заработок ethereum вход bitcoin flappy bitcoin
bitcoin mail bitcoin talk лотерея bitcoin кликер bitcoin monero minergate ethereum кошельки bitcoin часы биржа ethereum hyip bitcoin cryptocurrency nem greenaddress bitcoin
bitcoin demo 1 ethereum ninjatrader bitcoin car bitcoin forbot bitcoin fields bitcoin bitcoin парад bitcoin код finney ethereum
bitcoin get bitcoin server market bitcoin bitcoin продать lootool bitcoin курс bitcoin locals bitcoin bitcoin презентация bitcoin transactions
adc bitcoin love bitcoin putin bitcoin bitcoin клиент
monero spelunker gui monero bitcoin пополнить капитализация ethereum casper ethereum
ethereum com doge bitcoin bitcoin journal testnet ethereum bitcoin nasdaq market bitcoin kraken bitcoin
miner bitcoin
bitcoin fpga
ethereum contracts bitcoin ads доходность ethereum портал bitcoin bitcoin зарегистрироваться bitcoin prominer bitcoin black dice bitcoin bitcoin ukraine This was a revolutionary discovery that re-engergised the by-now largely stagnant cypherpunk movement. It is highly likely that Satoshi Nakamoto is someone (or someones) who was active on the Cypherpunks Mailing List during its 90s heyday, and spent the next 10-15 years in search of a solution. At this point it seems very unlikely we’ll ever know who was behind the 'Satoshi Nakamoto' pseudonym, which is, in a way, a great shame since their story is one that would almost-certainly be fascinating to hear. However, being birthed by a pseudonymous creator couldn’t be a more 'cypherpunk' beginning to the project.ropsten ethereum coin bitcoin javascript bitcoin client ethereum bitcoin buying etherium bitcoin avatrade bitcoin bitcoin cap bitcoin weekend tx bitcoin bitcoin сокращение seed bitcoin cryptocurrency tech bitcoin hashrate bitcoin tx bitcoin linux bitcoin окупаемость bitcoin abc
bitcoin org транзакции bitcoin pro100business bitcoin bitcoin capital panda bitcoin roll bitcoin bitcoin brokers bitcoin strategy приват24 bitcoin json bitcoin эфир ethereum bitcoin стоимость разделение ethereum At present, Bitcoin’s counterfeit resistance is made possible by a deliberate design philosophy from the core developers that prides accessibility and user self-sovereignty at all costs. It is augmented by a network of Bitcoin businesses that provide hardware nodes or managed access to node software. However, if the chain’s growth were to radically accelerate, consumer-grade counterfeit resistance would be significantly impaired.click bitcoin отзывы ethereum iota cryptocurrency bitcoin airbit bitcoin книга l bitcoin bitcoin x2 программа ethereum cpa bitcoin bitcoin заработка No excess heat to deal withelysium bitcoin сложность bitcoin китай bitcoin the ethereum bitcoin people monero прогноз life bitcoin phoenix bitcoin взлом bitcoin matrix bitcoin bitcoin de сайты bitcoin tether верификация
cranes bitcoin
group bitcoin bitcoin картинки bitcoin value сколько bitcoin падение ethereum genesis bitcoin
bootstrap tether ethereum calc monero курс
minergate bitcoin dance bitcoin bitcoin bear best cryptocurrency bitcoin ads sgminer monero кошелек tether
удвоить bitcoin использование bitcoin
mindgate bitcoin safe bitcoin bitcoin protocol расшифровка bitcoin bitcoin 1000 mini bitcoin moto bitcoin spots cryptocurrency bitcoin client ico ethereum proxy bitcoin bitcoin python ethereum logo q bitcoin coinder bitcoin
ethereum logo bitcoin сколько bitcoin trojan