Litecoin Price

What Is Litecoin (LTC)? 

Litecoin (LTC) is a peer-to-peer (P2P) cryptocurrency that can be used for inexpensive, everyday transactions. It is the 20th largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.

Litecoin was created to resolve various issues of the Bitcoin network. Specifically, Litecoin was created to decrease the amount of time taken to validate a new block into the blockchain and uphold storage efficiency.

The Litecoin network uses the proof of work (PoW) mining algorithm, a memory-intense script that prioritizes high transaction speed and efficiency. This ensures that even consumer-grade GPU hardware can be used to mine Litecoins, unlike Bitcoin.

When using Bitcoin, merchants have to wait for nearly one hour before any transactions are considered confirmed. However, block confirmation takes just two and a half minutes in the case of Litecoin, cutting down waiting time by 50% to 75%. This makes Litecoin highly suitable for microtransactions and even point-of-sale transactions.

What Is Litecoin (LTC) Used For? 

Litecoin was created to be used as an everyday digital currency. Due to its high speed, security and low transaction fees, Litecoin is now taking the lead as a spendable currency. Bitcoin, on the other hand, is becoming more of a store of value for investors.

Most merchants accepting LTC are located in the U.S., Europe, Asia, Indonesia and Turkey.

You can also use Litecoin to purchase various products and services ranging from clothes to travel tickets. 

Who Is the Founder of Litecoin (LTC)? 

Litecoin was founded in 2011 by Charlie Lee, a former Google engineer.

The Litecoin blockchain has always been considered to be a reaction to Bitcoin. When Lee announced the debut of Litecoin, he even referred to it as the lite version of Bitcoin because of its many similarities to Bitcoin.

How Does Litecoin (LTC) Work? 

Litecoin involves the mining and transfer of digital coins through an open-source cryptographic protocol called Scrypt. Scrypt implements fast transactions and generates blocks more quickly than the SHA-256 algorithm used by Bitcoin.

All Litecoin transactions are stored chronologically in Litecoin’s blockchain, which is a special distributed ledger.

Blockchain is a collaborative digital ledger that contains a record of all transactions on a network. In the case of Litecoin, miners group recent cryptocurrency transactions into “blocks” that are cryptographically secured. Once secured, these blocks get “LTCed” to the existing blockchain. Various cryptocurrencies, including Litecoin and Bitcoin, use similar blockchain technology to track participants’ transactions.

Why Is Litecoin (LTC) Valuable?

There are various benefits to Litecoin that make it highly valuable in the cryptocurrency world. Litecoin transactions are four times faster than Bitcoin transactions. In 2017, Litecoin processed a Lightning Network transaction that was completed in less than a second. 

The supply of Litecoin is also much higher than that of Bitcoin, with a hard cap of 84 million LTC, or four times the total supply of bitcoins.

As mentioned, Litecoin generates new blocks every 2.5 minutes, as compared to the 10-minute Bitcoin block creation schedule.

Litecoin sees regular expansions in their network and capabilities, sometimes even through developments in other cryptocurrencies. For example, in July 2020, Kyber Network listed the Ethereum-compatible pLTC token, a Litecoin-pegged token built on the Ethereum blockchain which allows Litecoin users to engage in more cross-chain asset transactions.

These factors make Litecoin a good choice for various cryptocurrency transactions.

What Makes Litecoin (LTC) Unique? 

Litecoin is similar to Bitcoin in that they’re both global digital payment methods. However, Litecoin has improved upon many of Bitcoin’s shortcomings.

Bitcoin is encrypted using SHA-256. Therefore, Bitcoin miners require devices like application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), which are expensive and consume a lot of energy.

On the other hand, the Litecoin network is encrypted using Scrypt. Therefore, anyone can mine Litecoins using a regular PC with simple and affordable CPU and GPU hardware systems.

As of January 2021, Litecoin has proven to be one of the most widely accepted cryptocurrencies and can be found on almost any crypto exchange. In fact, more than 2,000 merchants and stores worldwide accept Litecoin as a form of payment.

Cost and Speed

Some of the key benefits of Litecoin are its cost effectiveness and speed. While the average transaction fee for Bitcoin is $7.60, Litecoin transaction fees are as low as $0.03 to $0.04. Litecoin transactions are also confirmed more swiftly, with a maximum speed of 56 transactions per second. Bitcoin, on the other hand, can only reach about seven transactions per second.

MimbleWimble

On May 19, 2022, Litecoin launched its release of MimbleWimble (MW), an upgrade that improves the privacy and scalability of the Litecoin network. This is an optional feature, which lets users move their Litecoins into MimbleWimble Extension Blocks (MWEB). These blocks are meant to conceal the addresses and amounts of any transactions made within the blocks from everyone except those involved in the transaction. This offers more privacy to those who require it, as compared to the main blockchain.

How Many LTC Tokens Are in Circulation? 

Although the capabilities of the crypto space have changed in the last five years, Litecoin has managed to remain in the lead. Its steady market value and demand have led to Litecoin being named as the “silver” to Bitcoin’s golden performance.

At the time of this writing (June 14, 2022), LTC’s current price is $44.82, with a 24-hour trading volume of more than $1.2 billion. Litecoin has a live market cap of approximately $3.2 billion, with a circulating supply of 70,501,469 LTC, or 84% of the maximum total supply of 84,000,000 LTC.

Litecoin is distributed via purchase, mining and trading. An interested party must monitor the crypto market to keep track of the rise and dip in the LTC price. It also pays to stay up-to-date with recent news concerning adoption or regulatory approval of cryptocurrency. Statements about cryptocurrency from people in power directly translate to a rise in Litecoin’s value.

How to Mine LTC

Mining is a well-known method of acquiring cryptocurrencies. It involves the use of mining software to secure each block to the existing blockchain. Once a block is secured, new units of cryptocurrency are released. Miners can then inject these units directly into the market.

To mine most cryptocurrencies, you’ll need to have a GPU (graphics processing unit) or an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). 

There are three ways to mine LTC.

Solo Mining

If you’re interested in learning the ropes, and don’t want to share the rewards of mining, solo mining is the preferred choice. A clear downside here is that you’ll have to bear the entire cost of mining yourself. There’s also the likelihood that you may not win any LTC for an extended period of time.

Part of a Mining Pool

Both solo mining and pool mining require the purchase of specialized mining hardware, such as an ASIC miner or dedicated GPU. However, mining with a pool allows you to share resources conveniently with other miners. You also stand a better chance at getting a payout! 

Cloud Mining 

For those who want to outsource the hardware requirements, cloud mining is a good option. Once you choose an appropriate cloud mining company, you can pick the right mining package and select a good mining pool per your goals and requirements.

How to Store LTC

Just as with any regular currency or digital asset, it’s important to have proper security in place to prevent losing your litecoins. It’s essential to have a wallet ready before you mine or buy Litecoin. You can choose either an online wallet or a physical wallet to keep your litecoins safe.

Here’s a brief guide to how crypto wallets work.

Online Wallets 

Online wallets (or hot wallets) are always online, with easy access through the internet. However, they also come with the very real risk of being hacked.

There are primarily three types of online wallets:

• App-based Wallets: For Android and Apple smartphones

• Software Wallets: Can be downloaded to your Windows, Mac or Linux computer

• Web Wallet Services: Can be operated directly on a service website like Coinbase.

If you require quick access with some built-in security, then Exodus Wallet is a great example. However, if you trade in small amounts and prefer to do so from your smartphone, then Jaxx Liberty is a good choice, with speedy trading and some degree of security.

Physical Wallets 

Physical wallets can be hardware-based or paper-based. They’re also types of “cold” wallets, since they aren’t always online and easily accessible, unlike hot online wallets.

These offline wallets offer the best security, but at a higher price tag. However, they make it difficult to gain quick access to your crypto. Therefore, if you want to keep up with day trades, offline wallets may not be the best choice.

If you want to invest in the long term and value security over transaction speed, then a paper wallet is the best way to go. Of paramount importance, however, is either memorizing your passphrase and/or storing more than one copy in a safe place, since retrieval of your assets is impossible without it.

How to Buy LTC

You can buy LTC from any of the top cryptocurrency exchanges, including Bybit. 

Buying LTC on Bybit 

To purchase LTC on Bybit, simply follow these steps:

1. Head to the spot trading page of LTC. 

2. Select your trading pair on the left side of the page. For LTC, you can trade with USDT, BTC and USDC.

3. Choose the type of order you’d like to make: Limit Order, Market Order or Conditional Order.

For Limit Orders:

1. Select Limit.

2. Enter the order price.

3. Enter the number of LTC you want to buy.

4. Click on Buy LTC.

5. Once you’ve confirmed that your information is correct, click on Buy LTC.

6. View your order details under Active on the web page, or Orders if you’re using the Bybit app.

For Market Orders:

1. Select Market.

2. Enter the amount in USDT that you’ve paid to buy LTC.

3. Click on Buy LTC.

4. Once you’ve confirmed that your information is correct, click on Buy LTC.

5. View your order details under Filled.

For Conditional Orders:

1. Select Conditional.

2. Enter the trigger price.

3. Choose to execute at Market Price or Limit Price.

1. Market Price: Order price need not be set.

2. Limit Price: Order price needs to be set.

4. According to order types:

1. Market Buy: Enter the amount of USDT you’ve paid to buy LTC.

2. Limit Buy: Enter the number of LTC you want to buy.

5. Click on Buy LTC.

6. Once you’ve confirmed that your information is correct, click on Buy LTC.

7. View your order details under Conditional on the web page, and All Orders → Current Orders on the Bybit app.

For more help, you can also visit the Bybit spot trading guide.