Introduction to Litecoin

As a faster, cheaper version of Bitcoin, Litecoin is nearly technically identical to BTC, but with distinctive fundamental differences.

Litecoin strives to rival Bitcoin as a store of value while maintaining utility for everyday transactions.

Before Litecoin in the early 2010s, Bitcoin existed with its slow, costly transactions.

Slashing block creation time to 2.5 minutes and pumping supply to 84 million, Litecoin combined speed and security.

Introduced as "Silver to Bitcoin's gold", Litecoin didn't intend to annex Bitcoin.

In Lee's eyes, Bitcoin functioned as gold- ideal for substantial transactions and a long-term store of value-while Litecoin is for facilitating smaller, cheaper, everyday transactions.

On the mining front, Litecoin is a profitable endeavor, rewarding miners with 25 LTC per block.

Stemming from the algorithm of his previous effort, Tenebrix, Lee claimed that mining Litecoin could be done via a PC's CPU - but failed after Litecoin miners segued into using GPUs, until the introduction of ASIC miners.

No technical explanation of Litecoin can avoid mentioning Bitcoin, the inspiration for LTC mechanics.

In late 2017 new ASIC rigs were available to Litecoin miners.