Litecoin (LTC) is one of the earliest cryptocurrencies derived from Bitcoin’s code, and it has been running for more than a decade. Its creator, Charlie Lee, was a Google engineer at the time and developed the project in his spare time.

Related cryptocurrency: $LTC Current price: 64.03 (24h +0.9%).

— A side project by a Google engineer —

In October 2011, Charlie Lee, who was working at Google at the time, released Litecoin’s open-source client on GitHub. He described Litecoin as “a lightweight version of Bitcoin” and used the analogy “Bitcoin is gold, Litecoin is silver” to explain the relationship between the two.

Litecoin was initially based on Bitcoin’s code, with three main changes: block time, mining algorithm, and total supply.

— How it differs from Bitcoin —

Litecoin’s target block time is about 2.5 minutes, one-quarter of Bitcoin’s. It uses the Scrypt mining algorithm, and its maximum supply is 84 million coins—exactly four times Bitcoin’s. The block reward is halved every 840,000 blocks, or roughly once every four years.

Faster block times mean transfers can receive their first confirmation sooner. However, large transfers usually wait for a few more confirmations before being considered complete.

— A testing ground for new technology —

Litecoin is often seen as a “testing ground” for new Bitcoin technologies. In May 2017, Segregated Witness (SegWit) was activated on Litecoin first; it wasn’t activated on Bitcoin until August of that year.

In 2022, Litecoin also activated the MWEB (Mimblewimble Extension Blocks) upgrade, giving users the option to make private transactions.

— The Foundation —

Starting in 2017, Charlie Lee devoted himself full-time to the work of the Litecoin Foundation, promoting Litecoin and supporting its development. For a project that has been running for more than a decade, having people continue to maintain the code and drive upgrades forward is no small feat.

— A few final thoughts —

LTC has a long history and clear rules, but being an established coin doesn’t mean its price is less volatile. Halving simply reduces the amount of new supply. Even after you understand the rules, size your position according to the volatility you can tolerate. Don’t trade with borrowed money—the pressure can lead to poor decisions.

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This is not a recommendation to buy or sell in any form. You assume all risks.