Litecoin (LTC)

What is Litecoin?

Litecoin is a peer to peer cryptocurrency and open source software project. In technical terms, Litecoin is almost identical to Bitcoin (BTC). However, it does differ in that it uses a hashing algorithm different to Bitcoin (BTC). Litecoin instead uses Scrypt, which is a memory-intensive proof-of-work mining algorithm, which allows for consumer-grade hardware such as GPU to mine the coins. Furthermore, Litecoin also aims to process a block every 2.5 minutes, whereas Bitcoin is roughly every 10 minutes. Litecoin’s ambitions to improve on Bitcoin's inadequacies has secured industry support along with high trade volume and liquidity over the years. While Bitcoin was seen as the gold of cryptocurrency and a store of value for long-term purposes, Litecoin was viewed as the silver and as a means of a transaction for cheaper and everyday purposes.

Team

Litecoin was launched in October 2011 by former Google employee and Engineering director at Coinbase, Charlie Lee. Currently, the Litecoin Foundation, which is a non-profit organisation registered in Singapore, are the current team working on Litecoin by developing and promoting blockchain technologies. Charlie Lee, the original creator of Litecoin, serves as a managing director of the foundation. The foundation also maintains its Litecoin core team, who are the core of developers who work on the Litecoin project. The core team is different from the foundation, but they do work closely together with the foundation in supporting the core team financially.

Immunity to Flood Attacks

The Bitcoin network, during July 2015, was subjected to a flood attack. A flood attack is an attack where the network is flooded with spam transactions, which basically fills up the blocks and clogs up the blockchain.
Litecoin is immune to these type of attacks as the creator, Charlie Lee, made it economically infeasible for people to make the attack. He done this by charging a fee for each output the user wanted to send. Meaning if the user wanted to flood the blockchain with thousands of spam orders, it would cost too much for them to do so.

Litecoin Atomic Swaps

An exciting feature that Litecoin has introduced is ‘Atomic Swaps’. Atomic swap allows for a cross-chain exchange of coins without any need from a third party. For example, if person A wanted to swap 1 BTC for person B’s 100 Litecoin, they would need to go through a third-party exchange.

With the implementation of Atomic Swaps, Person A has 1 BTC and Person B has 100 LTC, they could easily swap their coins with each other, without having to go through an exchange and paying any unnecessary transaction fees and costs.

Where to Store Litecoin (LTC)

https://litecoin.com/en/individuals provides a few different wallets through their site for the storage of Litecoin (LTC). You can find mobile, browser and desktop wallets from 5 different providers all featured on the site. Most of these wallets are unofficial and developed by the community to improve and provide services on the open-source network.

Dedicated Wallet providers such as Exodus are also great for storing, sending and receiving any Litecoin you may already have or are looking to purchase. It is always recommended that you ensure using a secure wallet, create back-ups and store any sensitive recovery information. As well as, complete your own research and due diligence.

Where to Buy and SELL Litecoin (LTC)

You can Buy & Sell Litecoin (LTC) by heading over to the Buy Coins page of our website. Litecoin (LTC) is available on BC Bitcoin trading against major fiat currencies: GBP and EUR. Buying Litecoin has never been easier, simply place your order and provide your wallet address. Once your payment arrives Litecoin will be sent directly to your wallet. If you choose to Sell Litecoin (LTC) you can send us the coins and receive a payment to your bank account. Details and valuation can be found on the ‘Sell Coins’ page.

Litecoin (LTC) Resources

Website: https://litecoin.org/
Block Explorer: https://blockchair.com/litecoin
Github: https://github.com/litecoin-project/litecoin
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LitecoinProject

Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is intended for informational purposes only. It is the reader's responsibility to complete their own research and due diligence