Review on Litecoin by Efughi Lucky

Litecoin($LTC) is a decentralized peer-to-peer cryptocurrency created in October 13, 2011 by Charlie Lee. Litecoin was inspired by Bitcoin and is similar in many ways. Litecoin differs from Bitcoin because the Litecoin Network aims to process a block every 2.5 minutes, rather than Bitcoin’s 10 minutes, allowing Litecoin to have a faster transaction confirmation. Litecoin touts itself as being silver to Bitcoin’s gold. The Lightning Network is a system of smart contracts built on top of the base Bitcoin blockchain that allows for fast, cheap payments directly between two parties. The Lightning Network’s use of payment channels effectively allows users to transact with each other directly rather than broadcasting their business to the entire world. By tracking their payments between each other on their own, the two parties are able to avoid expensive and time-consuming interactions with the blockchain. If there is some sort of dispute regarding balances on the Lightning Network, either party can send the last valid state signed by both parties to the blockchain which is immutable and cannot be changed. The key benefits of the Lightning Network include: lower fees, instant payments, and the potential for improved privacy since these transaction are not stored in a public ledger forever. However, a downside to the benefits of the Lightning Network is that it requires users to open at least one payment channel to get started. Some people say the Lightning Network on Bitcoin will kill any reason to use Litecoin. However, it makes economic sense for a Lightning Network transaction to go through Litecoin when Bitcoin networks are congested. Charlie envisions both Litecoin and Bitcoin will work together to solve the world’s transition needs in the future. Litecoin is an open source project, which means that it has the capability and flexibility to implement relevant and useful tech improvements, such as SegWit and the lightning network. In that matter, it is an improved Bitcoin version, which is logical since it was a fork of it. It is considerably faster than Bitcoin, completing transactions in an average of 2.5 minutes, compared to the 10 minutes it takes to perform a similar operation in the latter. It represents a cheaper option for people looking to perform transactions, with an almost zero transaction fee compared to Bitcoin. The process of mining can be more straightforward on Litecoin than in Bitcoin (although that concept is debatable,) since it uses the new Proof of Work algorithm. It was created by a former Google employee, which brings a sense of reliability and trustworthiness to the equation. It has a less “toxic” community since it doesn’t quite have the reach of Bitcoin. It is considerably less volatile during market crashes or corrections than some of its peers. The developers and founders have shown excellent leadership skills throughout time: Charlie Lee left Coinbase as the head of engineering with the intention of focusing full-time on the Litecoin project. There are atomic swaps between LTC/BTC. The presence of the Lightning Network, a platform that fosters and promotes faster transactions. The 84M total supply. The market cap is very low if you compare Litecoin to other tokens at the top of the market. Chinese people are fond of it, which is an excellent marketing development since it represents the most significant pool of potential users. All hardware wallets support Litecoin.