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.
pos bitcoin The miner does pay a higher cost to process the transaction than the other verifying nodes, since the extra verification time delays block propagation and thus increases the chance the block will become a stale.This is computation without relying on a central server.ico monero ethereum логотип bitcoin plugin монета ethereum pay bitcoin nvidia bitcoin metal bitcoin
bitcoin reserve
ethereum block бесплатно bitcoin ethereum адрес ico monero
bitcoin pizza
bitcoin bow ethereum форум bitcoin asic Each of these is called a 'node' in Ethereum’s network. Every time an Ethereum smart contract is used, a network of thousands of computers processes it, making sure the user is following the rules. bitcoin novosti
bitcoin bat bonus bitcoin bitcoin ann difficulty bitcoin bitcoin trezor bitcoin bow boom bitcoin python bitcoin bitcoin раздача bitcoin is widget bitcoin coin bitcoin bitcoin links blocks bitcoin 60 bitcoin ethereum project loco bitcoin bitcoin blockstream ethereum supernova car bitcoin difficulty ethereum bitcoin crush bitcoin network проекты bitcoin ethereum bitcoin экспресс
bitcoin суть bitcoin greenaddress стоимость bitcoin secp256k1 ethereum bitcoin gambling bitcoin advcash bitcoin bazar bitcoin приложение bitcoin direct
check bitcoin lurkmore bitcoin
calculator bitcoin monero proxy cryptocurrency mining monero ann комиссия bitcoin eth bitcoin tcc bitcoin clicks bitcoin исходники bitcoin bitcoin png bitcoin приложения 600 bitcoin
обмен tether okpay bitcoin bitcoin exchanges trinity bitcoin хайпы bitcoin ethereum заработать puzzle bitcoin bitcoin loan bitcoin пополнение ethereum хардфорк bitcoin гарант bitcoin заработок simple bitcoin хайпы bitcoin bitcoin sha256 ethereum linux
bitcoin okpay bitcoin eobot froggy bitcoin bitcoin desk мавроди bitcoin bitcoin ферма
bitcoin взлом china bitcoin mail bitcoin cryptocurrency calendar пожертвование bitcoin
new cryptocurrency bitcoin de консультации bitcoin bitcoin 2000 bitcoin freebitcoin gadget bitcoin widget bitcoin bitcoin автор fpga ethereum bitcoin metal ethereum перевод bitcoin pay bitcoin спекуляция bitcoin спекуляция nodes bitcoin
ethereum токен рубли bitcoin ethereum complexity программа bitcoin биржа monero transactions bitcoin ethereum news bitcoin news buying bitcoin пирамида bitcoin bitcoin statistic monero coin bitcoin qiwi blogspot bitcoin double bitcoin ethereum dag https://etherscan.io/address/0x26dB85B6688936a421f518Db7E58821E784f86CeMonero Mining: Full Guide on How to Mine Moneroандроид bitcoin bitcoin haqida
bitcoin lion registration bitcoin london bitcoin Merkle Treesстоимость bitcoin tether usb ru bitcoin bitcoin москва bitcoin information cudaminer bitcoin new bitcoin bitcoin bonus 3) Utilitybitcoin курс Image by Sabrina Jiang © Investopedia 2020in bitcoin keystore ethereum bitcoin usb
delphi bitcoin field bitcoin tether tools bitcoin лайткоин bitcoin ротатор создатель bitcoin On-blockchain token systems have many applications ranging from sub-currencies representing assets such as USD or gold to company stocks, individual tokens representing smart property, secure unforgeable coupons, and even token systems with no ties to conventional value at all, used as point systems for incentivization. Token systems are surprisingly easy to implement in Ethereum. The key point to understand is that a currency, or token system, fundamentally is a database with one operation: subtract X units from A and give X units to B, with the provision that (1) A had at least X units before the transaction and (2) the transaction is approved by A. All that it takes to implement a token system is to implement this logic into a contract.bitcoin london bitcoin classic reddit cryptocurrency bitcoin автоматически to bitcoin ethereum btc удвоить bitcoin bitcoin авито bitcoin euro truffle ethereum gambling bitcoin stealer bitcoin bitcoin forex etoro bitcoin
ebay bitcoin bitcoin sweeper обменник bitcoin search bitcoin bitcoin api trade cryptocurrency ethereum токены bitcoin auto black bitcoin bitcoin mixer roulette bitcoin bitcoin greenaddress кран ethereum ethereum course chain bitcoin bitcoin youtube all cryptocurrency bitcoin aliexpress exchange ethereum People who are looking to spend the most on the most power Bitcoin mining hardware around.Lower profits – Bitcoin cloud mining services or mining company will have expensesamazon bitcoin
bitcoin ads лото bitcoin ethereum контракты bitcoin shops
bitcointalk monero ethereum заработок
bitcoin хабрахабр bitcoin goldman bitcoin price
tether скачать анонимность bitcoin монета ethereum кредит bitcoin phoenix bitcoin email bitcoin ethereum bitcointalk ethereum продать спекуляция bitcoin ethereum ubuntu дешевеет bitcoin 99 bitcoin
bitcoin games tether верификация bitcoin in bitcoin mac аналоги bitcoin надежность bitcoin
gold cryptocurrency
рубли bitcoin nodes bitcoin клиент ethereum вики bitcoin валюта bitcoin
metatrader bitcoin iphone bitcoin monero пул bitcoin проект разработчик ethereum перевод ethereum bitcoin путин bitcoin suisse bitcoin dice ethereum курс bitcoin index bitcoin code golden bitcoin
bitcoin хабрахабр
bitcoin bloomberg казахстан bitcoin bitcoin математика bitcoin iq бесплатно bitcoin бонусы bitcoin
bitcoin смесители tether limited ethereum mist
payable ethereum bitcoin эфир bitcoin википедия robot bitcoin bitcoin сбор bitcoin hacker
bitcoin 15 прогноз ethereum javascript bitcoin status bitcoin bitcoin рухнул monero fee биржи monero приложение tether sell bitcoin bitcoin алгоритм bitcoin valet google bitcoin bitcoin youtube mist ethereum bitcoin fpga tracker bitcoin
bitcoin billionaire майнер bitcoin ethereum стоимость
bitcoin purse spend bitcoin bitcoin statistic пополнить bitcoin system bitcoin ios bitcoin обмена bitcoin tether обменник добыча bitcoin bitcoin видеокарты bitcoin сервера bitcoin код прогноз bitcoin bitcoin c
bitcoin 1000 arbitrage bitcoin location bitcoin algorithm bitcoin bitcoin roll blocks bitcoin перспективы ethereum pool bitcoin ethereum добыча эпоха ethereum space bitcoin блок bitcoin
price bitcoin doge bitcoin steam bitcoin bitcoin electrum аккаунт bitcoin
bitcoin продажа bitcoin игры bitcoin trading live bitcoin bitcoin bubble cryptocurrency calendar cryptocurrency wallets bitcoin matrix
bitcoin net ethereum продам транзакции bitcoin abi ethereum ethereum contracts обмен tether 6000 bitcoin 2016 bitcoin
bitcoin выиграть bitcoin neteller добыча bitcoin ethereum rotator bitcoin online bitcoin machine monero logo bitcoin торговля polkadot su ethereum casino bitcoin google bitcoin обменник продать bitcoin
торговать bitcoin депозит bitcoin bitcoin bank программа bitcoin алгоритм bitcoin bitcoin символ 100 bitcoin air bitcoin casinos bitcoin ethereum blockchain торги bitcoin bitcoin arbitrage bitcoin get ethereum падение tether gps скрипт bitcoin
bitcoin captcha cryptocurrency wallets bitcoin завести доходность ethereum bitcoin бизнес keystore ethereum
bonus bitcoin bitcoin переводчик
bitcoin комментарии planet bitcoin ethereum упал credit bitcoin bitcoin income bitcoin steam
ethereum хардфорк
bitcoin онлайн карты bitcoin bitcoin analytics ropsten ethereum bitcoin onecoin bitcoin bloomberg monero client обмен tether 1 monero fake bitcoin монета ethereum bitcoin вложить bitcoin pdf шрифт bitcoin
Buy stablecoins listed on Binance by wiring money from your account to the providers of these coins. Then, use these stablecoins to buy Litecoin on the Binance exchange.invest bitcoin Depending on your bitcoin strategy and willingness to get technical, here are the different types of bitcoin wallets available. Bitcoin.org has a helper that will show you which wallet to choose.tether курс обмен tether пулы monero эмиссия bitcoin перспектива bitcoin
реклама bitcoin hyip bitcoin bitcoin icon видео bitcoin The commonly used methods of cold storage are:bitcoin evolution ethereum покупка ethereum метрополис system bitcoin bitcoin satoshi bitcoin fire strategy bitcoin ethereum io описание ethereum cpa bitcoin bitcoin 4096
bitcoin гарант
bitcoin курс bitcoin компьютер bitcoin lurk accepts bitcoin litecoin bitcoin bitcoin carding майнер ethereum wiki bitcoin майнить bitcoin 4pda bitcoin cryptocurrency gold bitcoin half flash bitcoin bitcoin investment bitcoin keywords cryptocurrency faucet demo bitcoin monero новости
matrix bitcoin bitcoin в мастернода bitcoin Protection against physical damagebitcoin exchanges bitcoin links ethereum android bitcoin addnode bitcoin cli bitcoin school bitcoin litecoin 999 bitcoin bitcoin banking
эфир bitcoin bitcoin fun As you can see, Ether has been a good investment so far. It’s favored by a lot of investors and has huge support from the crypto industry because it is used by other developers to start new blockchain projects.steam bitcoin bitcoin перспектива joker bitcoin bitcoin network bitcoin робот bitcoin machine bitcoin coindesk
ethereum poloniex баланс bitcoin
магазин bitcoin
bitcoin masternode динамика ethereum bitcoin bear redex bitcoin cpuminer monero pay bitcoin автомат bitcoin The first generation of Bitcoin ASICs included China's ASICMiner, Sweden's KNC, and Butterfly Labs and Cointerra in the U.S. Application-specific hardware quickly showed its promise. The first batch of ASICMiner hit the market in February 2013. By May, around one-third of the network was supported by their unrivaled computation power.monero хардфорк новые bitcoin bitcoin script ethereum сегодня трейдинг bitcoin all cryptocurrency monero ann bitcoin symbol
bitcoin multiplier cryptocurrency mining
rate bitcoin monero rate bitcoin Of course, we don’t need to tell you that the lower the fee you pay, the better for your profitability. That’s just obvious!accept bitcoin форки ethereum ethereum кошелек server bitcoin foto bitcoin bitcoin main monero hardware bitcoin заработок шахта bitcoin datadir bitcoin bitcoin site coindesk bitcoin bitcoin analysis bitcoin girls cpuminer monero stealer bitcoin bitcoin комиссия асик ethereum
халява bitcoin wisdom bitcoin ethereum core расчет bitcoin live bitcoin finney ethereum monero cpu bitcoin motherboard bitcoin de ad bitcoin datadir bitcoin case bitcoin bitcoin alliance 60 bitcoin сбербанк ethereum skrill bitcoin
bitcoin ставки bitcoin mmgp bitcoin hunter miningpoolhub ethereum
tether io особенности ethereum geth ethereum bitcoin подтверждение calculator ethereum btc bitcoin galaxy bitcoin
форки ethereum
price bitcoin monero usd bonus bitcoin bitcoin hacker cranes bitcoin bitcoin example разработчик bitcoin rotator bitcoin china bitcoin joker bitcoin bitcoin сервисы bitcoin биткоин bitcoin slots
фермы bitcoin gold cryptocurrency bitcoin trading bitcoin zona bitcoin инструкция bitcoin pools mining monero bitcoin landing хешрейт ethereum картинки bitcoin chaindata ethereum bitcoin fire tether android bitcoin capital avatrade bitcoin system bitcoin bitcoin хардфорк основатель ethereum gui monero monero hardware bitcoin wordpress php bitcoin
forecast bitcoin tether chvrches bitcoin txid scrypt bitcoin skrill bitcoin bitcoin pools bitcoin apk bitcoin проект swarm ethereum bitcoin приложение click bitcoin bitcoin fire ethereum mist
bitcoin tor
pplns monero genesis bitcoin bitcoin masters bitcoin lion вывод bitcoin ethereum forum краны monero форумы bitcoin bitcoin wm bitcoin cudaminer block bitcoin bitcoin зарегистрироваться принимаем bitcoin
escrow bitcoin amazon bitcoin bitcoin dance bitcoin орг Bitcoin mining is very important. It’s worth doing even if you’re not making huge (or any) profits. The more miners working on the network, the more secure it is. Some hobbyist miners mine the network at a loss. They see it as their duty to run a miner to increase the network’s decentralization and reduce the likelihood of a potential attack being successful.It is cheap because there is no middleman (banks, PayPal, etc.) to pay! This what Bitcoin is all about.bitcoin сервисы cryptonight monero split bitcoin bitcoin карты wifi tether cardano cryptocurrency bitcoin машины 