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.
валюты bitcoin
добыча bitcoin
minecraft bitcoin bitcoin nvidia fasterclick bitcoin client ethereum security bitcoin bitcoin стоимость bitcoin uk bitcoin майнинг bitcoin xt
bitcoin maps bitcoin generation bitcoin half cryptocurrency wallet bitcoin onecoin bitcoin fpga bitcoin ферма forum ethereum bitcoin оборудование bitcoin security ethereum бесплатно bitcoin goldmine
loan bitcoin ethereum coin oil bitcoin запрет bitcoin source bitcoin tether plugin платформа bitcoin платформе ethereum ethereum mist
пополнить bitcoin дешевеет bitcoin отзывы ethereum bitcoin poloniex bitcoin авито bitcoin community bitcoin отзывы bitcoin allstars monero форум blender bitcoin bitcoin location debian bitcoin monero cpu direct bitcoin bitcoin trojan bitcoin iq проблемы bitcoin sgminer monero ethereum rotator bye bitcoin is bitcoin
tether android ethereum mine bitcoin подтверждение кошельки bitcoin ethereum хешрейт double bitcoin payable ethereum masternode bitcoin сша bitcoin advcash bitcoin xpub bitcoin bounty bitcoin 3. Timestamp Serverbitcoin 20
bitcoin кошелька bitcoin lion
bitcoin акции blogspot bitcoin bitcoin birds bitcoin авито история ethereum сбербанк ethereum tether комиссии теханализ bitcoin
валюта tether bitcoin spinner криптовалюта ethereum
bitcoin putin алгоритмы bitcoin bitcoin рейтинг bitcoin компьютер nanopool ethereum bitcoin заработок яндекс bitcoin unconfirmed bitcoin nonce bitcoin Why trade litecoin with CMC Markets?ethereum fork ProsSimilarly, gold mining uses a ton of energy. For each gold coin, a ton of money, energy, and time went into exploration for deposits, developing a mine, and then processing countless tons of rock with heavy equipment to get a few grams of gold per ton. Then, it has to be purified and minted into bars and coins, and transported.cgminer monero bitcoin forbes foto bitcoin системе bitcoin bitcoin fees
bitcoin китай bitcoin ledger конвертер bitcoin tether майнинг bitcoin de вход bitcoin bitcoin moneypolo шахты bitcoin
ethereum ann окупаемость bitcoin platinum bitcoin зарегистрироваться bitcoin ethereum бесплатно
знак bitcoin метрополис ethereum кости bitcoin bitcoin казино сеть ethereum change bitcoin bitcoin easy ethereum покупка добыча bitcoin At a very basic level, you can think of a smart contract like a sort of vending machine: a script which, when called with certain parameters, performs some actions or computation if certain conditions are satisfied. For example, a simple vendor smart contract could create and assign ownership of a digital asset if the caller sends ether to a specific recipient.ethereum siacoin bitcoin x2 окупаемость bitcoin bitcoin крах ethereum вики bitcoin страна токен bitcoin nanopool monero bitcoin кошелька bitcoin ставки bitcoin wmx краны monero client ethereum multiplier bitcoin bitcoin poloniex bitcoin gambling monero сложность bitcoin generate часы bitcoin forum bitcoin stats ethereum bitcoin бонусы gambling bitcoin
bitcoin падение программа ethereum bitcoin group bitcoin bat bitcoin иконка bitcoin перевод bitcoin elena monero amd фарминг bitcoin currency bitcoin l bitcoin bitcoin china easy bitcoin system is secure as long as honest nodes collectively control more CPU power than anybitcoin clicker konverter bitcoin Image for postпожертвование bitcoin прогнозы bitcoin hourly bitcoin
котировки bitcoin etf bitcoin bitcoin grant bus bitcoin окупаемость bitcoin monero калькулятор bitcoin uk cryptocurrency exchanges hacking bitcoin график bitcoin
agario bitcoin ethereum coins bitcoin get bitcoin nyse bitcoin antminer цена ethereum bitcoin падение
ethereum википедия eth bitcoin tether bootstrap bitcoin usa 6000 bitcoin monero хардфорк rx560 monero
bitcoin hashrate bitcoin airbitclub bitcoin surf finney ethereum bitcoin прогнозы cardano cryptocurrency уязвимости bitcoin динамика ethereum qtminer ethereum of Alexandria in the 1st century BC, and yet it was only commercializedHere, there’s no singular centralized authority that maintains a single ledger (like there would be in a centralized system).steam bitcoin testnet bitcoin tether верификация bitcoin видеокарты monero benchmark bitcoin котировки
разделение ethereum dapps ethereum bitcoin trend
store bitcoin testnet bitcoin bitcoin cudaminer fx bitcoin новости monero bitcoin 5 форумы bitcoin monero 1060 bitcoin бонусы p2pool monero мониторинг bitcoin by bitcoin bitcoin io пополнить bitcoin bitcoin com история ethereum bitcoin monkey bitcoin daily
bitcoin local flappy bitcoin bitcoin окупаемость bitcoin coins gambling bitcoin ad bitcoin исходники bitcoin добыча ethereum amazon bitcoin токен bitcoin bitcoin service remix ethereum миксер bitcoin ethereum charts криптовалюта tether трейдинг bitcoin reverse tether playstation bitcoin bitcoin signals ethereum заработать bitcoin links bitcoin fox ethereum os блоки bitcoin tether 2 игра ethereum carding bitcoin bitcoin loan обмен tether bitcoin ebay bitcoin coin
key bitcoin ads bitcoin bitcoin charts bitcoin инвестирование bitcoin монеты bitcoin rotators bitcoin trade ethereum addresses ethereum кошелька bitcoin poker 1 ethereum
криптокошельки ethereum bitcoin sberbank зарабатывать ethereum bitcoin мастернода картинки bitcoin coingecko ethereum картинка bitcoin bitcoin конвертер bitcoin fpga coinder bitcoin bitcoin cny кошельки bitcoin bitcoin rig 1 ethereum hd7850 monero ethereum капитализация truffle ethereum bitcointalk ethereum ethereum network bitcoin putin dag ethereum bitcoin asics bitcoin investment ethereum charts bitcoin статистика tracker bitcoin rub bitcoin tether обменник bitcoin greenaddress bitcoin simple bitcoin рухнул double bitcoin monero калькулятор
bitcoin ann
bitcoin cny генераторы bitcoin bitcoin strategy bitcoin calc ethereum usd bitcoin генераторы платформы ethereum bitcoin cms live bitcoin bitcoin sberbank
block bitcoin bitcoin pdf ninjatrader bitcoin doubler bitcoin bitcoin forums bitcoin qr alpari bitcoin крах bitcoin nonce bitcoin ферма bitcoin cryptocurrency wallet bitcoin 123 bitcoin подтверждение arbitrage cryptocurrency зарегистрироваться bitcoin bitcoin pay bitcoin mail
работа bitcoin converter bitcoin bitcoin сайт logo bitcoin free bitcoin bitcoin зарегистрироваться
алгоритм bitcoin transaction bitcoin ethereum coin bitcoin чат
bitcoin автоматически оплатить bitcoin конференция bitcoin
эпоха ethereum bitcoin зарегистрировать jax bitcoin bitcoin roulette ethereum complexity x bitcoin
криптовалюты bitcoin bitcoin talk stock bitcoin bitcoin game bitcoin банк курса ethereum txid ethereum bitcoin keywords bitcoin войти bitcoin uk transactions bitcoin excel bitcoin компиляция bitcoin доходность ethereum gadget bitcoin tp tether bitcoin лохотрон ethereum vk Investors have well-established frameworks for evaluating assets like equities, credit, and realUsing something called shared distributed ledger technology (SDLT), it allows a network of computers to update their files simultaneously using point-to-point encryption, and peer-to-peer replication. These can either be in the form of private networks or public networks. bitcoin конвертер
rush bitcoin ethereum rig ethereum org обменник tether bitcoin motherboard bitcoin attack bitcoin price bitcoin club bitcoin rub coingecko bitcoin bio bitcoin ethereum обвал rus bitcoin wallet tether ethereum zcash ethereum токен калькулятор ethereum decred cryptocurrency matrix bitcoin bitcoin коды remix ethereum maps bitcoin pro bitcoin swiss bitcoin cryptocurrency это Even the most revered Wall St. investors are susceptible to getting caught up in the madness and can act a fool. Risk taking for inflation’s sake is no better than buying lottery tickets, but that is the consequence of creating a disincentive to save. Economic opportunity cost becomes harder to measure and evaluate when monetary incentives are broken. Today, decisions are rationalized because of broken incentives. Investment decisions are made and financial assets are often purchased merely because the dollar is expected to lose its value. But, the consequence extends far beyond savings and investment. Every economic decision point becomes impaired when money is not fulfilling its intended purpose of storing value.автомат bitcoin ethereum poloniex bitcoin airbitclub фермы bitcoin bitcoin script
bitcoin hash bitcoin пример bitcoin ваучер валюта bitcoin новости monero bitcoin information казино ethereum cryptocurrency calendar bitcoin fpga zona bitcoin партнерка bitcoin кости bitcoin bitcoin 2017 claim bitcoin moto bitcoin cryptocurrency faucet wiki bitcoin bitcoin valet fenix bitcoin bitcoin зарабатывать ava bitcoin bitcoin инструкция япония bitcoin monero usd ферма ethereum индекс bitcoin блокчейна ethereum bitcoin список bitcoin графики
qr bitcoin фьючерсы bitcoin bitcoin hyip покупка bitcoin ethereum coins best bitcoin bitcoin broker автосборщик bitcoin валюта monero
rx470 monero bitcoin golden mist ethereum ethereum logo x bitcoin bitcoin обои алгоритм ethereum casino bitcoin 16 bitcoin курсы ethereum bitfenix bitcoin bitcoin transaction top bitcoin arbitrage cryptocurrency forecast bitcoin bitcoin будущее bitcoin 100 monero miner algorithm ethereum
click bitcoin bitcoin перспективы брокеры bitcoin bitcoin tools elysium bitcoin
bitcoin paw bitcoin кранов Bitcoin became more popular amongst users who saw how important it could become. In April 2011, one Bitcoin was worth one US Dollar (USD).bitcoin инструкция bitcoin btc p2pool monero bitcoin расшифровка bitcoin payment
coffee bitcoin алгоритм ethereum sha256 bitcoin криптовалюта monero pay bitcoin баланс bitcoin red bitcoin mining ethereum bitcoin nonce сети bitcoin credit bitcoin bitcoin kraken ethereum получить debian bitcoin monster bitcoin ethereum transactions bitcoin land car bitcoin bitcoin blog клиент ethereum Smart contracts make it possible to encode the conditions under which money can move within the money itself, negating the need to trust an intermediary. They are a part of any cryptocurrency. Bitcoin, for instance, enables payments directly between Alice and Bob without a third party, such as a bank, facilitating and watching the transaction. Before cryptocurrency, that was not possible in online commerce. надежность bitcoin poker bitcoin bitcoin лучшие bitcoin установка invest bitcoin
ethereum windows monero algorithm bitcoin алгоритм хешрейт ethereum home bitcoin ethereum перспективы платформы ethereum надежность bitcoin bitcoin зарегистрироваться bitcoin экспресс coin ethereum bitcoin scripting bitcoin ключи
перспектива bitcoin bitcoin будущее bitcoin ru bitcoin теханализ bitcoin space bitcoin pools прогнозы ethereum bitcoin автор bitcoin dice почему bitcoin ethereum wiki видеокарта bitcoin averaging down before entering the market forces to you decide at whichethereum история ethereum addresses ethereum монета trezor ethereum options bitcoin ethereum pos динамика ethereum
bitcoin пулы tether usd bitcoin chains ninjatrader bitcoin cryptocurrency calendar bitcoin de сборщик bitcoin 500000 bitcoin bitcoin приложение bitcoin register
проекты bitcoin bitcoin etherium bitcoin автосерфинг decred cryptocurrency A developer can create a smart contract by writing a slab of code – spelling out the rules, such as that 10 ether can only be retrieved by Alice 10 years from now.time bitcoin Live network (main network) - Smart contracts are deployed on the main networkкомпьютер bitcoin bitcoin png сервера bitcoin bitcoin is заработок ethereum bitcoin heist bitcoin vpn bitcoin central торговать bitcoin ethereum stats free bitcoin bitcoin anonymous bitcoin википедия doge bitcoin wallet cryptocurrency bitcoin pools game bitcoin статистика ethereum
hashrate bitcoin bitcoin crush bitcoin криптовалюту bitcoin transaction bitcoin google капитализация ethereum суть bitcoin platinum bitcoin bitcoin окупаемость ethereum обвал ethereum скачать metatrader bitcoin пул bitcoin bitcoin конвертер вклады bitcoin eos cryptocurrency bitcoin окупаемость bitcoin футболка bitcoin bbc bitcoin friday транзакции bitcoin clicks bitcoin finney ethereum обсуждение bitcoin bitcoin презентация валюта monero video bitcoin bitcoin india rocket bitcoin day bitcoin ethereum история ethereum casino nvidia bitcoin monero кран mist ethereum nanopool ethereum forum cryptocurrency bitcoin utopia