Wikipedia

Litecoin

Litecoin(Abbreviation:LTC;sign:Ł) is a decentralizedpeer-to-peercryptocurrencyandopen-source softwareproject released under theMIT/X11 license.Inspired byBitcoin,Litecoin was among the earliestaltcoins,starting in October 2011.[4][5][6][7]In technical details, the Litecoin main chain shares a slightly modifiedBitcoincodebase. The practical effects of those codebase differences are lower transaction fees,[8]faster transaction confirmations,[6]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."[9][10][11]In 2022, Litecoin added optional privacy features via softforkthrough the MWEB (MimbleWimbleextension block) upgrade.[11][12]

Litecoin
Official Litecoin logo
Denominations
PluralLitecoins
SymbolŁ[citation needed]
CodeLTC
Precision10−8
Subunits
 1⁄1000lites,[1]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 release0.21.2.2[2]/ 2 March 2023;20 months ago(2023-03-02)
Code repositorygithub/litecoin-project/litecoin
Development statusActive
Project fork ofBitcoin [a]
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 supplyŁ75,001,876 (22 September 2024)[3]
Supply limitŁ84,000,000
Valuation
Exchange rateUS$77.24 (November 2024)[3]
Administration
Issuing authoritydecentralized,block reward
Website
WebsiteOfficial websiteEdit this at Wikidata
  1. ^Source code forkshouldn't be confused withhard forksorsoft forks.

Design

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Units and divisibility

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Currency codesfor representing litecoin is LTC.[13]ItsUnicodecharacter is Ł.

One litecoin is divisible to eight decimal places. Units for smaller amounts of litecoin are:

  • lites, or millilitecoin (mŁ), equal to1⁄1000litecoin,
  • photons, or microlitecoin (μŁ), equal to1⁄1000000,
  • the litoshi, which is the smallest possible division, and named in homage to bitcoin's smallest denomination the satoshi, representing1⁄100000000(one hundred millionth) litecoin.

History

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Pre-Litecoin

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By 2011, Bitcoin mining was largelyperformed by GPUs.[14]This raised concern in some users that mining now had a high barrier to entry, and thatCPUresources were becoming obsolete and worthless for mining. Using code from Bitcoin, a new alternative currency was created calledTenebrix(TBX). Tenebrix replaced theSHA-256rounds in Bitcoin's mining algorithm with thescryptfunction,[15]which had been specifically designed in 2009 to be expensive toaccelerate with FPGA or ASIC chips.[16]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).[15]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.[17]

To address this,Charlie Lee,aGoogleemployee who would later become engineering director atCoinbase,[18]created an alternative version of Tenebrix calledFairbrix(FBX).[5]Litecoin inherits the scrypt mining algorithm from Fairbrix, but returns to the limited money supply of Bitcoin, with other changes.

Creation and launch

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Lee released Litecoin via an open-sourceclientonGitHubon October 7, 2011.[19]The Litecoin network went live on October 13, 2011.

Litecoin was asource code forkof theBitcoin Coreclient, originally differing by having a decreased block generation time (2.5 minutes), increased maximum number of coins, differenthashing algorithm(scrypt,instead ofSHA-256), faster difficulty retarget, and a slightly modifiedGUI.[citation needed]

2011–2016

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After launch, the early growth of Litecoin was aided by its increasing exchange availability and liquidity on early exchanges such asBTC-e.During the month of November 2013, the aggregate value of Litecoin experienced massive growth which included a 100% leap within 24 hours.[20][21]

In early 2014, Lee suggested merge mining (auxPOW)Dogecoinwith Litecoin to the Dogecoin community at large. In September 2014, Dogecoin began merge-mining with Litecoin.[22]

2017–2021

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In 2020,PayPaladded the ability for users to purchase a derivative of Litecoin along withBitcoin,EthereumandBitcoin Cashwhich could not be withdrawn or spent as part of its Crypto feature.[23][24]

In September 2021, a fake press release was published onGlobeNewswireannouncing a partnership between Litecoin andWalmart.This caused the price of Litecoin to increase by around 30%, before the press release was revealed as a hoax.[25]

2022–present

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In May 2022, MWEB (Mimblewimble Extension Blocks) upgrade was activated on the Litecoin network as asoft 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.[26][non-primary source needed]

In June 2022,PayPaladded the ability for users to transfer Litecoin along withBitcoin,EthereumandBitcoin Cashbetween PayPal to other wallets and exchanges.[27][non-primary source needed]

Differences from Bitcoin

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Litecoin is different in some ways fromBitcoin:

  • 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.[28]
  • Scrypt,an alternativeproof-of-workalgorithm, is used for Litecoin. According toMotherboard,"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).".[29]
  • Litecoin is merge mined with another prominent cryptocurrency, Dogecoin.[30]
  • 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.[citation needed]
  • MWEB optional privacy was added to Litecoin's base layer in May 2022 via soft fork.[12]This allows amounts held within wallets and transaction amounts within MWEB to be private.[31]

Third party vendors providingpoint of sale infrastructurefor Litecoin includeBitPay.[32]

See also

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References

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  1. ^renaming of mLTC/μLTC to lites/photonshttps://github /litecoin-project/litecoin/pull/375Archived2021-12-08 at theWayback Machine
  2. ^"Litecoin v0.21.2.2".litecoin.org. 2 March 2023.Retrieved2024-03-05.
  3. ^ab"Litecoin (LTC) Price Today".Revolut.Retrieved2024-09-22.
  4. ^Litecoin Cryptocurrency
  5. ^ab"Ex-Googler Gives the World a Better Bitcoin".WIRED.Archivedfrom the original on 2018-07-09.Retrieved2017-10-25.
  6. ^abGibbs, 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.Retrieved2022-07-14.
  7. ^"Bitcoin".Retrieved2024-11-12.
  8. ^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.S2CID199363476.
  9. ^Mandjee, Tara (2014)."Bitcoin, its legal classification and its regulatory framework".Journal of Business & Securities Law.15.Archivedfrom the original on 2022-07-15.Retrieved2022-07-15.
  10. ^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.S2CID236441485.
  11. ^abIsmail, Ashiana. "Permissioned blockchains for real world applications." PhD diss., 2020.
  12. ^abHake, Mark R. (February 14, 2022)."Litecoin Should See Broader Appeal With New Privacy Technology".Nasdaq.Archivedfrom the original on July 15, 2022.RetrievedJuly 14,2022.
  13. ^"Litecoin USD (LTC-USD)".Yahoo Finance.RetrievedNovember 24,2024.
  14. ^Browne, Ryan (2017-12-20)."Litecoin founder Charlie Lee says he's sold all his holdings in the cryptocurrency".CNBC.Archivedfrom the original on 2021-02-02.Retrieved2024-02-01.
  15. ^abLee, David, ed. (May 5, 2015).Handbook of Digital Currency: Bitcoin, Innovation, Financial Instruments, and Big Data.ElsevierScience.ISBN9780128023518.
  16. ^"scrypt page on the Tarsnap website".Archivedfrom the original on 28 May 2019.Retrieved21 January2014.
  17. ^Deng, Robert H. (3 August 2017).Handbook of Blockchain, Digital Finance, and Inclusion, Volume 1: Cryptocurrency, FinTech, InsurTech, and Regulation.United Kingdom:ElsevierScience.ISBN9780128104422.
  18. ^"Litecoin founder Charlie Lee has sold all of his LTC".TechCrunch.Archivedfrom the original on 2021-02-21.Retrieved2018-08-20.
  19. ^Hacıoğlu, Ümit, ed. (2019).Blockchain economics and financial market innovation: financial innovations in the digital age.Contributions to economics. Cham: Springer. p. 213.ISBN978-3-030-25275-5.
  20. ^Charlton, Alistair (2013-11-28)."Litecoin value leaps 100% in a day as market cap passes $1bn".International Business Times, UK Edition.Archivedfrom the original on 2013-12-03.Retrieved2013-12-16.
  21. ^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.Retrieved2024-02-01.
  22. ^Murdock, Jason (2021-04-14)."How to mine dogecoin as 129 billion tokens in circulation".Newsweek.Archivedfrom the original on 2022-07-13.Retrieved2022-07-13.
  23. ^BBC (2020) "PayPal allows Bitcoin and crypto spending", October 21.https:// bbc.co.uk/news/technology-54630283Archived2021-11-10 at theWayback Machine
  24. ^Crypto with PayPal is hereArchived2022-01-20 at theWayback Machine,PayPal
  25. ^"Walmart denies tieup with litecoin, fake statement rattles cryptocurrency".Reuters.2021-09-13.Archivedfrom the original on 2022-10-15.Retrieved2021-09-13.
  26. ^"MWEB Has Officially Activated".Litecoin Foundation.2022-05-20.Archivedfrom the original on 2022-05-26.Retrieved2022-06-01.
  27. ^PAYPAL (2022) "PayPal Users Can Now Transfer, Send, and Receive Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin", June 21.https://newsroom.paypal-corp /2022-06-07-PayPal-Users-Can-Now-Transfer-Send-and-Receive-Bitcoin-Ethereum-Bitcoin-Cash-and-LitecoinArchived2022-07-12 at theWayback Machine
  28. ^Steadman, Ian (2013-05-11)."Wary of Bitcoin? A guide to some other cryptocurrencies".Ars Technica.Archivedfrom the original on 2014-01-16.Retrieved2014-01-19.
  29. ^Alec Liu (29 November 2013)."Beyond Bitcoin: A Guide to the Most Promising Cryptocurrencies".Archivedfrom the original on 13 June 2018.Retrieved25 April2024.
  30. ^McGleenon, Brian (24 November 2022)."Why is this crypto token rising amid crash and FTX collapse?".Yahoo Finance.Retrieved7 December2022.
  31. ^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.ISSN1424-8220.PMC8434605.PMID34502842.
  32. ^"Bitcoin's Dominance of Crypto Payments Is Starting to Erode".Time.Archivedfrom the original on 2022-07-16.Retrieved2022-07-16.
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