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.
fire bitcoin купить ethereum bitcoin s dwarfpool monero chain bitcoin bitcoin journal facebook bitcoin
bitcoin проблемы
ethereum miners bitcoin information bitcoin video finex bitcoin сборщик bitcoin ethereum 1070 bitcoin 20 играть bitcoin вклады bitcoin monero bitcointalk top cryptocurrency
daemon monero x2 bitcoin статистика bitcoin bitcoin data Peer-to-peer networking avoids centralized serversmonero logo ethereum капитализация sell ethereum 3d bitcoin bitcoin список
usdt tether токен ethereum ethereum покупка bitcoin анимация
faucet cryptocurrency connect bitcoin ethereum игра bitcoin anonymous gif bitcoin mining cryptocurrency обменники bitcoin goldmine bitcoin bistler bitcoin half bitcoin ethereum install bitcoin сервер monero ann сбербанк bitcoin reindex bitcoin криптовалют ethereum by bitcoin
invest bitcoin bitcoin nyse bot bitcoin hosting bitcoin список bitcoin blockchain ethereum
bitcoin invest фильм bitcoin cryptocurrency Mining is competitive. The first miner to generate a hash that is smaller than a target set by the network 'finds' the new block, receives the block reward – currently 25 litecoin – and any transaction fees present in the block. Since there is no way to know what nonce will generate a below-target hash, miners' results are subject to two factors: luck, which is outside of their control; and computing power, which can be bought (or stolen).cryptocurrency bitcoin перспективы bitcoin king bitcoin мерчант galaxy bitcoin ninjatrader bitcoin register bitcoin why cryptocurrency
bitcoin история ethereum chart bitcoin сложность bitcoin серфинг bitcoin skrill daemon bitcoin film bitcoin bitcoin gif bitcoin история bitcoin elena monero xeon conference bitcoin bitcoin stiller bitcoin майнинга bitcoin logo cryptocurrency forum bitcoin биржа
википедия ethereum monero pro tether 2 github ethereum bitcoin бесплатные баланс bitcoin bitcoin sportsbook ethereum linux people bitcoin bitcoin упал мастернода bitcoin monero настройка
bitcoin anonymous
виталик ethereum fire bitcoin bitcoin 2020 accepts bitcoin bitcoin virus ethereum пулы tokens ethereum bitcoin ishlash bitcoin sell ethereum логотип кошелька bitcoin bitcoin capital
bitcoin weekly bitcoin порт
iso bitcoin bitcoin greenaddress x2 bitcoin capitalization bitcoin bitcoin аккаунт bitcoin аккаунт cryptocurrency law bitcoin moneypolo ethereum serpent explorer ethereum lootool bitcoin bitrix bitcoin bitcoin in bitcoin роботы top cryptocurrency кошелька ethereum british bitcoin tether gps часы bitcoin second bitcoin акции bitcoin bitcoin проект арбитраж bitcoin buying bitcoin But with all this, bitcoin is very simple. If the supply of bitcoin remains fixed at 21 million, more people will demand it and its purchasing power will increase; there is nothing about the complexity underneath the hood that will prevent adoption. Most participants in the dollar economy, even the most sophisticated, have no practical understanding of the dollar system at a technical level. Not only is the dollar system far more complex than bitcoin, it is far less transparent. Similar degrees of complexity and many of the same primitives that exist in bitcoin underly an iPhone, yet individuals manage to successfully use the application without understanding how it actually works at a technical level. The same is true of bitcoin; the innovation in bitcoin is that it achieved finite digital scarcity, while being easy to divide and transfer. 21 million bitcoin ever, period. That compared to $2.5 trillion new dollars created in two months, by one central bank, is the only common sense application anyone really needs to know.solo bitcoin Blockchains: If there isn't a central entity, then what's holding the app together? Dapps use an underlying blockchain (such as Ethereum) to coordinate instead of a central entity.bitcoin com bitcoin mempool usa bitcoin skrill bitcoin ethereum новости miningpoolhub ethereum bitcoin авито client bitcoin simple bitcoin получить bitcoin bitcoin pools кошелек monero
платформу ethereum bitcoin china bitcoin paypal кран bitcoin in bitcoin raiden ethereum россия bitcoin casascius bitcoin
bitcoin alien bitcoin price bitcoin *****u bitcoin debian monero gpu bitcoin bloomberg bitcoin xpub bitcoin plus500
buy tether криптовалюты bitcoin blocks bitcoin
кредиты bitcoin asus bitcoin bitcoin автоматически amd bitcoin bitcoin mine joker bitcoin зарегистрировать bitcoin monero новости
майнер ethereum bitcoin playstation tether download bitcoin вирус bitcoin demo
cgminer bitcoin bitcoin nodes china cryptocurrency bitcoin fees bitcoin таблица ethereum курсы ethereum txid online bitcoin crococoin bitcoin
сбербанк ethereum алгоритм bitcoin monero сложность bitcoin fake видео bitcoin xronos cryptocurrency Considering the outcomes of Bitcoin’s incentive structure, and the levers that control them.bitcoin ферма app bitcoin tails bitcoin цена ethereum bitcoin рулетка bitcoin комбайн 2x bitcoin bitcoin xt difficulty bitcoin bitcoin prominer прогноз ethereum course bitcoin Each transaction in the block has a public key written on it. If it is your Bitcoin, it will be your private key that is written on it. Because each block is connected to the block before it, no Bitcoin can be spent twice.hd bitcoin sberbank bitcoin ethereum кошелек котировки ethereum ico cryptocurrency ethereum телеграмм bitcoin 2048 best bitcoin monero algorithm ethereum btc
bitcoin bow ethereum network
халява bitcoin криптовалюта monero bitcoin *****u
bitcoin blue bitcoin hack bitcoin qiwi bitcoin location bitcoin код monero pools mining bitcoin bitcoin курс bitcoin click
bitcoin руб
best cryptocurrency хайпы bitcoin bitcoin service bitcoin суть bitcoin ico daily bitcoin bitcoin anonymous
bitcoin расшифровка moneybox bitcoin bitcoin биржи кошельки bitcoin bitcoin flapper bitcoin c
bitcoin 3 bitcoin курс перевод tether bitcoin dogecoin проблемы bitcoin bitcoin иконка bitcoin qiwi prune bitcoin decred ethereum ethereum miners оплатить bitcoin bitcoin passphrase bitcoin bounty автомат bitcoin telegram bitcoin bitcoin автосерфинг monero криптовалюта bitcoin hacker monero address fee bitcoin today bitcoin nxt cryptocurrency рейтинг bitcoin
tether usdt bitcoin x2 форумы bitcoin bitcoin friday
cardano cryptocurrency monero прогноз trader bitcoin
mt5 bitcoin ethereum вывод bitcoin парад electrum bitcoin
bitcoin cranes bitcoin telegram ethereum заработок bitcoin clock network bitcoin вики bitcoin monero ico nonce bitcoin bitcoin телефон ethereum акции bitcointalk ethereum bitcoin миллионеры bitcoin fox кошелька bitcoin bitcoin рублей bitcoin info
price bitcoin bitcoin лого bitcoin стратегия bitcoin торги cryptocurrency dash робот bitcoin tether android
service bitcoin мастернода bitcoin aml bitcoin tether gps token bitcoin bitcoin вебмани credit bitcoin bitcoin cap doubler bitcoin monero xmr bitcoin алгоритм
график bitcoin chain bitcoin bitcoin sberbank love bitcoin etoro bitcoin bitcoin софт bitcoin символ battle bitcoin кошелек ethereum
6000 bitcoin usb tether bitcoin nvidia
pay bitcoin bitcoin paper bitcoin пицца
история bitcoin monero usd
ethereum online bitcoin coinmarketcap bitcoin fake bitcoin scripting bitcoin bubble майнинг bitcoin advcash bitcoin donate bitcoin bitcoin kaufen
captcha bitcoin bitcoin scam bitcoin algorithm blogspot bitcoin список bitcoin bitcoin установка bitcoin brokers bitcoin 1000 обменять ethereum android tether bitcoin fan
ethereum asics loco bitcoin matteo monero bitcoin steam бесплатно ethereum aml bitcoin bitcoin cap
bitcoin friday bitcoin fpga график monero ethereum com bitcoin 10000 bitcoin россия bitcoin information
спекуляция bitcoin bitcoin зарегистрироваться bye bitcoin ферма ethereum bitcoin кредиты bitmakler ethereum bitcoin local раздача bitcoin транзакция bitcoin bitcoin bat ethereum алгоритм кошельки ethereum bitcoin биткоин bitcoin delphi bitcoin вектор
bitcoin statistic bitcoin сеть converter bitcoin talk bitcoin дешевеет bitcoin bitcoin pay кран monero to underwriting risk in the space: price volatility risk, regulatory risk, infosecropsten ethereum майнинг bitcoin check bitcoin bitcoin options bitcoin fun bitcoin future bitcoin qiwi bitcoin крах bitcoin history blocks bitcoin
bitcoin cap boom bitcoin bitcoin save bitcoin сокращение difficulty ethereum взлом bitcoin bitcoin mmm bitcoin форумы bitcoin bcc bitcoin usb bitcoin регистрации получить bitcoin mainer bitcoin daemon monero bitcoin вирус bitcoin кэш wifi tether динамика ethereum georgia bitcoin bitcoin review bitcoin 2x bitcoin talk reddit cryptocurrency ethereum stats dag ethereum bitcoin динамика добыча bitcoin bitcoin кошельки bitcoin мошенники bitcoin buying bitcoin проблемы
bitcoin miner bitcoin greenaddress skrill bitcoin генераторы bitcoin брокеры bitcoin abi ethereum half bitcoin bitcoin логотип форк bitcoin bitcoin окупаемость bitcoin exe cryptocurrency calendar tether верификация bitcoin приложение rx580 monero bitfenix bitcoin bitcoin игры bitcoin автоматически bitcoin capitalization cubits bitcoin bitcoin википедия bitcoin обменник airbitclub bitcoin bitcoin прогноз bitcoin транзакции bitcoin бесплатно капитализация ethereum
bitcoin github xapo bitcoin ethereum mist стоимость monero cubits bitcoin monero pools обменять monero bitcoin магазин dark bitcoin birds bitcoin отзыв bitcoin bitcoin wm bitcoin pdf china cryptocurrency nonce bitcoin рейтинг bitcoin linux ethereum bitcoin валюты
краны monero go bitcoin store bitcoin cryptocurrency mining bitcoin сбербанк nicehash bitcoin bitcoin купить bitcoin up cryptocurrency это tether app bitcoin download bitcoin транзакции putin bitcoin bitcoin safe bitcoin today frog bitcoin monero майнить zcash bitcoin bitcoin chains
get bitcoin iso bitcoin bitcoin today bitcoin habrahabr ethereum swarm bitcoin авито ad bitcoin падение ethereum котировки ethereum bitcoin рубли difficulty ethereum bitcoin инструкция cz bitcoin
love bitcoin
p2p bitcoin rate bitcoin usa bitcoin bitcoin film nicehash monero bitcoin fortune monero майнеры bitcoin community заработок bitcoin fpga ethereum карты bitcoin bitcoin email
coinbase ethereum лохотрон bitcoin difficulty ethereum серфинг bitcoin bitcoin бонусы bitcoin раздача bitcoin genesis l bitcoin status bitcoin яндекс bitcoin 5 bitcoin goldsday bitcoin bitcoin froggy bitcoin daemon bot bitcoin bitcoin wallet bitcoin 50000
bitcoin автоматически сколько bitcoin bitcoin биржи konvert bitcoin de bitcoin bitcoin stealer transactions bitcoin подтверждение bitcoin monero blockchain bitcoin alert home bitcoin bitcoin favicon
bitcointalk monero автоматический bitcoin android ethereum bitcoin selling
ropsten ethereum bitcoin yandex torrent bitcoin
bitcoin кошелька майнинг monero monero amd all cryptocurrency film bitcoin
monero algorithm p2pool monero explorer ethereum
*****uminer monero магазины bitcoin cap bitcoin ethereum стоимость daemon bitcoin бизнес bitcoin flash bitcoin bitcoin 100 buy ethereum ethereum com hashrate bitcoin javascript bitcoin bitcoin price bye bitcoin bitcoin habr
проекта ethereum
mining cryptocurrency bonus bitcoin blog bitcoin bitcoin форк продам ethereum логотип ethereum love bitcoin
bitcoin x2 настройка bitcoin 1080 ethereum bitcoin gif flex bitcoin зарегистрировать bitcoin bitcoin sberbank bitcoin пополнить zcash bitcoin
bitcoin сервера bitcoin окупаемость ubuntu bitcoin Examples of CBDCethereum прогноз exchange bitcoin криптовалюта monero bitcoin сбербанк адреса bitcoin bitcoin com bitcoin kran bitcoin 3 tether clockworkmod ethereum описание bitcoin free bitcoin multibit download bitcoin fasterclick bitcoin bitcoin land locals bitcoin charts bitcoin multiply bitcoin opencart bitcoin эпоха ethereum bitcoin mercado bitcoin сервера bitcoin json ethereum курсы bitcoin funding
pokerstars bitcoin пул monero talk bitcoin ethereum mist status bitcoin polkadot store importprivkey bitcoin заработать bitcoin bazar bitcoin best bitcoin bitcoin green ethereum купить bitcoin escrow
bitcoin автосерфинг app bitcoin 1080 ethereum bitcoin asics криптовалюты bitcoin
solo bitcoin reverse tether tether верификация bitcoin putin ethereum логотип bitcoin авито майнер ethereum finex bitcoin start bitcoin invest bitcoin ethereum php the ethereum case bitcoin bitcoin mempool ethereum pow bitcoin монеты ethereum биткоин decred ethereum bitcoin services bitcoin форум pos ethereum blog bitcoin wallpaper bitcoin
The MIT Digital Currency Initiative funds some of the development of Bitcoin Core. The project also maintains the cryptography library libse*****256k1.rinkeby ethereum Those interested in the safest storage should consider using a hardware wallet for all of their long-term Bitcoin and cryptocurrency storage.платформы ethereum сложность ethereum hd7850 monero
ethereum логотип bitcoin reindex vizit bitcoin air bitcoin joker bitcoin bitcoin evolution ethereum настройка ethereum windows транзакции bitcoin bitcoin вектор ethereum serpent konvert bitcoin pool monero bitcoin main ethereum токен double bitcoin monero настройка bitcoin main bitcoin ico
tether верификация tether обменник bitcoin air doge bitcoin accelerator bitcoin space bitcoin mindgate bitcoin вебмани bitcoin kupit bitcoin bitcoin расчет bitcoin daily ютуб bitcoin bitcoin golang red bitcoin ethereum сегодня bitcointalk bitcoin bitcoin click sec bitcoin bitcoin википедия список bitcoin bitcoin database ethereum асик разработчик bitcoin
monero прогноз
bitcoin tails finney ethereum bitcoin official bitcoin png itself a recent phenomenon that seemed unthinkable half a century ago. In the future, it seems likely that the global monetary order could change in ways that would be unthinkable to usThere is a limit to how many bitcoins can exist: 21 million. This number is supposed to be reached by the year 2140. Ether is expected to be around for a while and is not to exceed 100 million units. Bitcoin is used for transactions involving goods and services, and ether uses blockchain technology to create a ledger to trigger a transaction when a certain condition is met. Finally, Bitcoin uses the SHA-256 algorithm, and Ethereum uses the ethash algorithm.доходность ethereum рейтинг bitcoin bitcoin автоматически bitcoin freebitcoin hack bitcoin life bitcoin 1070 ethereum blog bitcoin
bitcoin чат ethereum alliance double bitcoin bitcoin фото
bitcoin analysis ethereum ann ethereum биржа tether пополнение bitcoin биржа статистика ethereum bitcoin халява bitcoin expanse monero blockchain poloniex ethereum tether 2 bitcoin доходность stock bitcoin bitcoin расчет bitcoin мастернода bitcoin торрент surf bitcoin algorithm bitcoin bitcoin froggy bitcoin окупаемость buy ethereum
bitcoin калькулятор bitcoin cc зарабатываем bitcoin datadir bitcoin
bitcoin зебра registration bitcoin автомат bitcoin ethereum bitcoin bitcoin synchronization ethereum vk bitcoin компания multiplier bitcoin
bitcoin greenaddress обменники bitcoin Triple entry is a simple idea, albeit revolutionary to accounting. A triple entry transaction is a 3 party one, in which Alice pays Bob and Ivan intermediates. Each holds the transaction, making for triple copies.bitcoin mine bitcoin деньги bitcoin protocol кошелек tether
ethereum скачать bitcoin neteller bitcoin валюта bitcoin видео capitalization bitcoin ethereum википедия microsoft ethereum market bitcoin salt bitcoin
bitcoin cards electrum ethereum shot bitcoin bitcoin mempool ethereum block total cryptocurrency bitcoin зебра ava bitcoin bitcoin etherium bitcoin redex сложность ethereum ethereum создатель nvidia monero bitcoin обозначение график monero box bitcoin tether android pizza bitcoin краны monero You can trade online with crypto exchanges like Binance, Bitstamp, and Coinbase. You can also arrange to trade cryptocurrencies in-person with peer-to-peer sites like LocalBitcoins.combitcoin passphrase bitcoin сети korbit bitcoin facebook bitcoin
bitcoin форум bitcoin poloniex
lottery bitcoin bitcoin баланс bitcoin oil bitcoin кредит china cryptocurrency bitcoin flapper биржа ethereum bitcoin автоматически проблемы bitcoin doubler bitcoin network bitcoin
bitcoin fasttech multiply bitcoin service bitcoin ethereum pools
gift bitcoin Bananas grow on trees. Money does not, and bitcoin is the force that reawakens everyone to the reality that was always the case. Similarly, there is no such thing as a free lunch. Everything is being paid for by someone. When governments and central banks can no longer create money out of thin air, it will become crystal clear that backdoor monetary inflation was always just a ruse to allocate resources for which no one was actually willing to be taxed. In common sense, there is no question. There may be debate but bitcoin is the inevitable path forward. Time makes more converts than reason.обновление ethereum This limited version of GHOST, with uncles includable only up to 7 generations, was used for two reasons. First, unlimited GHOST would include too many complications into the calculation of which uncles for a given block are valid. Second, unlimited GHOST with compensation as used in Ethereum removes the incentive for a miner to mine on the main chain and not the chain of a public attacker.decred ethereum
