Litecoin is a decentralized digital currency, with all transactions recorded on the public blockchain. It is an open source software project, similar to Bitcoin, often said to be the ‘silver’ to Bitcoin’s ‘gold’.
Litecoin was created in October 2011 by former Google engineer, Charles Lee. It was mainly created in order to improve upon Bitcoin, to which it differs slightly.
In comparison to Bitcoin’s 21 million coin limit, Litecoin has a coin limit of 84 million. Also, they refer to different algorithms, as Litecoin uses Scrypt while Bitcoin uses SHA-256. The main difference, however, involves the processing block time. The mean block time for Bitcoin is 10 minutes, while for Litecoin it is 2.5 minutes.
Like Bitcoin, you can buy Litecoins for fiat on a number of exchanges. You are also able to exchange bitcoins for Litecoins.
As opposed to Bitcoin, the choice of Litecoin wallets is limited and could be problematic. For longer-term storage, it is suggested to setup a Litecoin paper wallet.
The term ‘altcoins’ is short for alternative coins. Given that Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency to surface in the market, the other digital currencies that emerged are referred to as altcoins.
A blockchain is a digital ledger recording cryptocurrency transactions, maintaining records referred to as ‘blocks’ in a linear, chronological order.
Using a blockchain ensures security and manages digital relationships as part of a system of record.
A distributed ledger is a database, digitally recording transaction information using cryptography, making it secure and unforgeable.
There are several differences between a blockchain and a database, including the level of control. Blockchains are under a decentralized control, whereas a centralized database creates a dependent relationship between users and administrators. Users tend to prefer confidentiality, which is better achieved through a centralized database. Performance also differs, as a centralized database is able to compute information faster than blockchains.
