What is LTC

WhiteBIT
Published 21 September 2021
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What is LTC

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What is LTC?

The Litecoin cryptocurrency (LTC) is one of the oldest coins on the market. It was created by the former Google employee Charlie Lee back in 2011, just two years after the launch of the first cryptocurrency, Bitcoin.

LTC is a fork of BTC. This is the same peer-to-peer network consisting of a chain of blocks that store information about transactions. The miners are responsible for the network’s functioning, providing computing power. This means that Litecoin is running on the Proof of Work consensus protocol.

LTC is designed to solve the same problems that Bitcoin was originally designed to solve. Litecoin is a more convenient, faster, and cheaper means of payment than its older brother or any fiat currency. The cryptocurrency community calls LTC a digital silver. Here are its main differences from the first cryptocurrency:

  • low fees. Commission charges in the LTC network are hundreds of times lower than those in the BTC network;
  • fast transactions. The generation of a new block in the Litecoin network takes 2 minutes 30 seconds, while it takes 10 minutes in the Bitcoin blockchain;
  • simple mining. Thanks to the Scrypt hashing algorithm, mining new coins requires much less processing power than SHA-256. To become an LTC miner, you do not need to buy ASIC miners, a powerful video card can handle this.

But since LTC is a fork of BTC, these two coins also have similar features:

  • halving. Approximately once every four years (every 840 thousand blocks), the reward for the found block is halved;
  • limited issue. The maximum number of LTC coins that will ever exist is 86 million. This is exactly four times the number of BTC;
  • consensus protocol. Both networks operate on the Proof of Work protocol. That is, to keep the network functioning, the computing power of the miners solves complex equations.

LTC price

The initial LTC rate was $2, and at first, it was relatively stable. The first significant price increase occurred in December 2013, when it reached $44.73. After such rapid growth, a drop followed, and until the beginning of 2017, one coin cost less than $10.

Throughout 2017, the price of the coin was steadily growing and in mid-December, it was $98, after which, in just a few days, it exploded up to $358. This growth was followed by a strong correction down to $40.

The growth of the coin’s price resumed in November 2020, which lasted until May 2021. The LTC price reached $401.82 and then rolled back down to $190.

LTC prospects

The creator of the project, Charlie Lee, never positioned his project as a replacement for the first cryptocurrency but rather as an organic addition to it. He believes that cryptocurrency gold is suitable for saving money, while silver is for daily spending. To make purchases or pay for services, it is more convenient and profitable to use LTC.

Litecoin can work in tandem with Bitcoin but will never surpass it in price or market position. According to experts, LTC has good long-term investment prospects.

How to buy LTC?

You can buy LTC on the WhiteBIT cryptocurrency exchange:

  • log in to your personal account (or create one if you do not have it yet);
  • go to the Trade section;
  • select the desired pair, for example, LTC/USDT or LTC/BTC;
  • create an order.

If it is a market order, it will be instantly executed. When using a limit order, you will have to wait until the price reaches the desired value.

Moreover, you can swap another crypto or fiat for LTC via the Exchange service.

FAQ

Cryptocurrency rates are very volatile. The real-time LTC rate can be viewed at this link.

The minimum purchase amount on the WhiteBIT exchange is as follows:

- 5.05 USD, USDT;
- 4.20 EUR;
- 0.0001 BTC.