Humankind has an inherent trait of not stopping when inventing something, having created something we are constantly transforming our technology to achieve perfection, this trait is behind the progress of technology all over the world. Cryptocurrencies also were no exception based on the variety of cryptocurrencies it is safe to say that society is actively experimenting on them in order to create cryptocurrencies for different needs. The first cryptocurrency was Bitcoin, created by some mysterious person named Satoshi Nakomoto, a few years after its creation the idea of crypto future was picked up by various innovators in order to improve or adapt crypto concepts for different needs. Litecoin cryptocurrency was created from such motives. The cryptocurrency appeared in 2011 under the ticker LTC and is a fork (Fork) of Bitcoin.
Fork – using the code base of one project as the basis for the creation of another. Each fork can develop independently from the main project and features can be implemented in one fork that did not exist in the main project. The purpose of the fork can be to improve the encryption algorithm, optimize the operation, or simplify the mining of the cryptocurrency.
After the emergence of Bitcoin, many developers sought to create something like Bitcoin. Charlie Lee, a former Google employee, decided that it was possible to improve Bitcoin. Taking Bitcoin’s code as the basis for his cryptocurrency, he refined it and created his own cryptocurrency calling it Litecoin. Litecoin as a fork of Bitcoin had all the advantages of Bitcoin as a cryptocurrency but with some improvements such as several times faster transaction speed and more accessible mining. Charlie Lee said that he wanted to create not a competitor to Bitcoin, but a lighter version of it. The idea was to make cryptocurrency more accessible and faster. These qualities interested the market as Litecoin’s capitalization began to rise. At the time of writing, Litecoin is capitalized at $12.36 billion, ranking 14th in the cryptocurrency market in terms of capitalization according to Coinmarketcap. The price of the asset is $185 at the time of writing, and Litecoin reached $401 in May 2021 according to Coinmarketcap.
Despite the fact that Charlie Lee sold all of his LTC cryptocurrency at its peak price in 2017, the cryptocurrency continues to be in the top 20 cryptocurrencies. By that time, LTC had already built a large online community, which called Charlie Lee’s actions the worst Exit Scam (Exit Scam – a fraudulent practice where a project raises money for an ICO (Initial Coin Offering) after which the organizers disappear) in cryptocurrency history. Despite all these failures, traders see LTC as a stable cryptocurrency. It is used for portfolio diversification as well as for fast money transfers between crypto wallets. Fast transactions are one of the main features of LTC. LTC’s transaction speed has increased even more than the original speed after the introduction of the new Segregated Witness protocol. Now the complexity of blockchain is adjusted so that on average one block is generated in 2.5 minutes, which is four times faster than in Bitcoin. This makes it generally faster to get transaction confirmations. A transaction is usually considered completed after six blocks or 15 minutes. In Bitcoin blockchain, that time can be up to several hours.
Like Bitcoin, Litecoin has all the advantages of a decentralized network. The lack of an administrative center makes it impossible for the government to intervene and manipulate the number of Litecoins in circulation, which guarantees the stability of the exchange rate. However, the uphill brand battle the coin is facing makes it a somewhat risky investment, therefore it’s crucial to do a risk analysis before investing in it.
To sum it up, we can say that Litecoin is a secure cryptocurrency that has not only received all the benefits of Bitcoin but also received additional benefits as a result of the Fork. Litecoin will be in demand for a long time, as evidenced by the fact that in the last 10 years the cryptocurrency continues to be in demand on the cryptocurrency market.