Litecoin Open Source P2P Digital Currency

Currently, there are 180 currencies in circulation with international recognition, including litecoin, which I'll talk about today. There are also multiple different cryptocurrencies. I have found the majority of attention is placed on bitcoin, the first cryptocurrency released. The amount of a cryptocurrency circulating through the market is called market capitalization. According to these standards, the largest is bitcoin, followed by XRP and litecoin.

What is Litecoin?

Cryptocurrency was created as an online payment system. Users are able to transfer cryptocurrency to merchants or other users. I believe one of the biggest differences between litecoin and the traditional currency is transactions using litecoin are conducted with litecoin as opposed to any other type of currency. I find payment systems completely different than those using fiat currency. Litecoin is currently among the five most important cryptocurrencies.

Litecoin Price Prediction

The sixth-largest cryptocurrency, the market cap has already exceeded $4.9 billion. The coin originated in 2011, with the same blockchain being used for both litecoin and bitcoin. Not only can payments be made using this coin, but the cryptocurrency is also much faster than bitcoin. The reason litecoin is so often referred to as Lite is that it is four times quicker than bitcoin. Due to the volatility of the market, I find predicting the price of any cryptocurrency for the future a difficult task.

The majority of predictions are made using a variety of metrics. Most of the technical analysis conducted has shown that this cryptocurrency is an excellent investment. The cryptocurrency is expected to offer great returns in just two to three years. The year 2020 is predicted to be a bull market for every cryptocurrency including.  Due to this expectation, litecoin price predictions are showing that the coin is expected to reach the $124 level. By the end of 2020, it could retreat, according to reports, and is expected to be trading at approximately $106. On the contrarian side, there are those people who say it could be as low as $20 by the end of 2020.

If this occurs, litecoin will be worth 50 percent of the price shown at the beginning of the year. The reason this scenario remains unlikely is due to the initiatives being implemented. I believe this will result in an increase in price. The price may decrease as much as 20 to 59.9 percent. I do not predict that it will make any solid gains vs. bitcoin during the near future, but rather will pace with it.  Again, these are just my opinions as a speculative investor who does hold this cryptocurrency long term.  The litecoin price prediction for 2020 may be as high as $169.80. The price for 2025 is predicted to increase ten times, making the value about $1693.7.

The increase in price from $374.59 to $617.41 is the equivalent of 60 percent. The price prediction for 2026 begins at $385.39. During the first six months of 2026, the price is expected to increase to $410.17. By 2030 the price of is predicted at $434.78. From this point on, the predictions are that it will remain one of the highest-rated currencies with increased popularity. I believe the growth of is partly dependent on if the difficulties within the bitcoin network continue. If bitcoin is unable to resolve its scaling issues, litecoin may grow even faster.

Despite the convenience offered by XRP and the high-security level offered by ethereum, I feel the main bitcoin successor could be this exact crytocurrency.

Litecoin Halving

Halving occurs when the amount of the litecoin reward for each block is halved. The process is completed approximately once every four years. The idea of halvings is the preservation of the purchasing power of litecoin. The last halving occurred on August 5th of 2019. The mining reward was decreased from 25 to 12.5 litecoins for each block. The next halving is expected to occur on August 6th of 2023. The reward will then be further decreased to 6.25 litecoins. I have found the best way to understand the purpose of halvings is to grasp the process used for the creation of tokens.

The number of coins to be able to be created is also limited. The total number of coins in circulation will not exceed 84 million. Once all litecoin has been mined, it is impossible to generate any additional tokens. Since the total number of litecoin is fixed, the cryptocurrency is considered scarce and not subject to deflation. If there was no limit in place, the purchasing power would decrease as time passed. The reason fiat currencies are subject to deflation is that there is no limit on how much any government can print.

A litecoin halving takes place once 840,000 blocks have been mined. The process will continue until the network has generated 84 million litecoins. Approximately 75 percent of all potential litecoins have already been mined. Roughly 63 million are currently in circulation. Litecoin is given to miners as a reward when a new block is added to the network. Every time there is a halving, the miners earn half as many litecoins for transaction verifications. The litecoin network currently requires approximately 2.5 minutes to mine one block.

After the halving in 2019, 24 hours were required to produce approximately 576 blocks. The result is 7,200 litecoin enter the market during this period of time. The level prior to the halving was about 14,000 litecoin every 24 hours. Every time a halving takes place, fewer tokens are added. My prediction is the interest of miners will decrease due to the halving events. I believe the most frequently used mining devices for litecoin will have more difficulty generating enough litecoin to pay for the electricity required.

Mining difficulty is how much effort is necessary to maintain the blockchain and add new blocks. There is no adjustability made for the decrease in profits for the miners. If enough miners begin mining a different cryptocurrency, I predict the result may be a drop in the hash rate. The hash rate for litecoin is currently at 157 TH/s. The rate was 523 TH/s prior to the last halving. Some of the enthusiasts believe this is only temporary due to the increase in computing power taking place for months after a halving. This increase compensates for the decrease in profits experienced by the miners.

On August 25th of 2015, the hash rate of litecoin dropped 15 percent due to the halving. The hash rate rebounded within two weeks. There is some concern the decreasing hash power of litecoin places the cryptocurrency in jeopardy of a 51 percent attack. In this instance, a single cartel or miner can accumulate more hashing power than any of the other miners. If in excess of 50 percent of the network's hashing power is obtained, other miners can be outvoted and control of the network gained. This includes the transactions on the blockchain.

Increased volatility should be expected by litecoin traders during a halving. In August, the price of litecoin was $97. This is 53 percent higher than the current value of $45. The same thing happened in 2015. In July, litecoin was at $8. After the halving date of August 25th, the price was $2. The latest decrease has made the year even more difficult for litecoin. Litecoin was impacted due to the close link with bitcoin when the newest bear phase began for bitcoin.

I have heard the argument that litecoin may not rebound due to the decrease seen during the last six months. Traders may have included the supply cut in with the price. Although the value of the coin can be negatively impacted by a litecoin halving, what is happening in the cryptocurrency market is more important for the short term when attempting to predict the price of litecoin in the future.

Litecoin vs Bitcoin

I have participated in numerous discussions comparing litecoin and bitcoin. The main debate is what is required for a cryptocurrency to become successful. Despite bitcoin being the clear choice for the crypto-community, there is a user base for litecoin. I have spoken to numerous individuals skeptical of bitcoin despite their belief cryptocurrency will do well in the future. Both litecoin and bitcoin have experienced some technical issues. The intent of both cryptocurrencies was the same, using cryptographic principles to transfer value. So far, bitcoin is the winner.

There are numerous ways to compare the two cryptocurrencies. My favorite and the most popular is by market capitalization. The ranking for litecoin is fifth with a $2.56 billion market cap. Bitcoin is currently in first place with a $56 billion market cap. The standard cryptocurrency preferable for most platforms and users is bitcoin. Even though litecoin represents a fraction of bitcoin's $45 billion, I find the cryptocurrency is worth discussing. Litecoin offers legitimate credentials and an active user base. Litecoin also functions in the same way as bitcoin.

As an online payment system, litecoin uses cryptocurrency as opposed to any national currency such as United States dollars. Bitcoin is used to complete transactions for both bitcoin and litecoin. Both cryptocurrencies have a similar image and community while reliant on similar cryptographic principles. In 2009, bitcoin was released as the very first cryptocurrency. Despite litecoin releasing just two years later, it has not yet managed to catch bitcoin. The developers of litecoin said their goal was the creation of silver to compliment the gold of bitcoin.

Even though the technology used for litecoin is better than bitcoin, I believe litecoin was inferior from the moment of creation. When looking at litecoin vs bitcoin, the differences in the technical mechanics and acceptance must be considered. There are four distinct reasons both cryptocurrencies are unique. Despite litecoin having a substantially better algorithm, the pervasive network of bitcoin has made litecoin subordinate. The first difference is the popularity of bitcoin. The market cap for bitcoin is approximately 22.5 times greater than litecoin.

The majority of the cryptocurrency investment community believes bitcoin is the best choice due to the overwhelming popularity of the cryptocurrency. The search popularity of bitcoin far exceeds that of litecoin. Bitcoin has always been more popular than litecoin for both searches and investors. I am among those who believe cryptocurrency presents an inherent risk. Despite this, the incredibly high market cap of bitcoin supports the belief bitcoin is the more stable of the two. The price of bitcoin is still extremely volatile.

The difference is if litecoin was cut by $1 billion, the market cap would be cut by 50 percent. A crash of $40 billion would be necessary to half the market cap for bitcoin to create the same catastrophic event. In spite of all of this, the relevance of litecoin within the cryptocurrency community is good. The second difference is more total coins are accommodated by litecoin than bitcoin. Cryptocurrency traders have influence regarding the number of coins each cryptocurrency is programmed to produce. A maximum of 84 million coins can be produced by litecoin.

Only 21 million coins can be produced by bitcoin. Neither litecoin or bitcoin has yet reached their respective cap limits. The main concern is the price volatility predicted when the coins do reach their cap limits. There are approximately 16.5 million bitcoins currently in circulation compared to the 52 million litecoins. This means bitcoin has already reached 78 percent of the cap limit. Litecoin is only 61 percent of the way there. If the maximum amount is reached by bitcoin first, I believe the traction for litecoin may increase.

Traders may attempt to escape bitcoin volatility by purchasing litecoin at this time. This scenario would clearly be in favor of litecoin. The issue is the misunderstanding behind this scenario. Litecoin and bitcoin can both be divided into fractions. I do not believe the total value of both coins can not be impacted by the value of the maximum coin. A bitcoin transfer can be completed for 0.00000001 bitcoins. The idea additional coins can influence the value is eliminated by this concept. The third difference is the significantly faster transaction speed of litecoin.

The confirmation time for the typical bitcoin transaction is just over nine minutes. A litecoin transaction can be completed in just 2.5 minutes. The faster speed makes a transaction with litecoin four times quicker than with bitcoin. For anyone conducting frequent transactions such as merchants, the faster processing time is a definite advantage. Transactions on both litecoin and bitcoin networks are completed immediately. The additional time necessary is due to the network participants for transaction completion.

To make certain the transaction was valid, the bitcoin network requires 9 minutes as opposed to the 2.5 minutes required by the litecoin network. Although transactions can be immediately accepted as valid by the merchants, there is a risk. The merchant becomes subject to a double-spend attack. The advantage of litecoin in comparison to bitcoin appears large. The concept of using third-party solutions to minimize the time required to offer much more secure, instant transactions must also be considered. The fourth difference is the cryptographic algorithm of litecoin.

Anyone using cryptocurrency for a long period of time understands the technical components of both litecoins and bitcoin's cryptographic algorithms. When the two are compared, there are differences. The algorithm used by litecoin is called Scrypt. The SGA-256 algorithm is used by bitcoin. The mining process for each cryptocurrency is determined by the algorithm. Miners receive units of the cryptocurrency as rewards for confirming the transaction of the users. I have found litecoin's Scrypt is far less complex than the SHA-256 algorithm used by bitcoin.

This means the parallel processing degree is higher for bitcoin. Sophisticated methods have been constructed by bitcoin miners at an extremely efficient rate. The most prominent method are ASICs. An ASIC is basically a hardware system created for mining bitcoins. There is fierce competition for mining bitcoin because there are so many miners and numerous technical innovations. For a new miner to become established, they must be able to handle the expenses, have enough computing power and understand how to compete better than their experienced competition.

One of the main reasons for the creation of litecoin was for miners unable to mine bitcoin because a standard CPU is unable to compete with an ASIC. New miners can access Scrypt much easier. The design of Scrypt means customized hardware solutions are not as conducive. Scrypt is still subject to technology. Newer developments are influencing the easy mining Scrypt was intended to provide. A lot can be determined about the litecoin community by the fact litecoin made the effort to make mining more easily accessible.

Unfortunately, this gesture placed litecoin into a niche. When comparing litecoin vs bitcoin, I must note litecoin does not compare to the massive bitcoin community. The focus of litecoin were minor differentiating factors. Despite both cryptocurrencies offering basically the same functions, litecoin does not offer enough for most bitcoin users to convert. The cryptocurrency traders responsible for the market caps have not placed technology ahead of making a profit. These traders are viewing the value proposition of litecoin as just another sales pitch.

Users with less technical knowledge barely understand the mining process. The difference between Scrypt and SGA-256 remains a mystery. Even with the recent price increase of litecoin, the cryptocurrency is still not as attractive as bitcoin. In 2017, litecoin experienced yet another issue when ethereum was released. Litecoin dropped to the fourth market cap position. Within a short time period. ethereum gained almost ten times the market cap of litecoin. I believe Bitcoin may forever shadow bitcoin because it was created as the silver for the gold of bitcoin.

The algorithm of litecoin is technically better than that of bitcoin, but I find this fact mostly irrelevant. The popularity of bitcoin has ensured this cryptocurrency represents the gold for both new and veteran cryptocurrency traders. Litecoin and bitcoin are equals regarding cryptocurrency adoption. Although both are good cryptocurrencies, bitcoin has achieved the main role. I believe bitcoin will continue to remain ahead of the other cryptocurrencies including litecoin. There is a chance litecoin will not become popular enough to succeed.

If this happens, litecoin will essentially die out. The cryptocurrency community requires an extensive network for the users. Despite the efforts of other cryptocurrencies including technical superiority, there is a good chance they will never become as popular as bitcoin. Another exceptional benefit of bitcoin is liquidity. Cryptocurrencies are often extremely volatile. This is an important factor for newer users.

A lot of beginners prefer to start with bitcoin due to the substantial preexisting market and stability. I believe ultimate determination as to which cryptocurrencies survive is in the hands of the network. Litecoin may become obscure as more and more users purchase bitcoin. The relevance of litecoin is being debated. The recent increases in price are mainly due to the price increase of all cryptocurrencies.

How to Buy Litecoin

Purchasing litecoin is simple and requires only a couple of minutes. The first step is creating an account. I have found the process is secure, fast and ensures the personal information of the user is safe. The next step regarding how to buy litecoin is identity verification. A photo ID is required to prevent identity theft. I have purchased litecoin for a minimum of $25. I have used both my bank account and debit card to make the payment.

If you live in the USA, the best place to buy is at Coinbase.com.

Buy Litcoin at CoinBase

Litecoin Wallets

A litecoin wallet is simply a software application enabling the user to store and send and receive cryptocurrency securely. I have found some wallets focused on security, while others offer specific features. The best security is having a private key. I believe the risk of theft or hacking increases substantially without a private key. The best option is secure, issued by a reputable company, easily navigated and used, offers both a restore and backup feature and is compatible with the operating system and all of the devices operated by the user.

I do not believe any wallet is secure unless I am the sole proprietor. The top ten litecoin wallet options for 2020 are defined below from most to least popular.

Ledger Nano S: This is a hardware sized wallet created for a USB, best suited for litecoin transactions. The wallet is intended for multiple assets, and resembles a folding flash drive. My favorite benefit is the wallet is capable of storing more than 30 digital currencies including litecoin, ethereum, bitcoin and ERC tokens. I can operate the wallet just like a USB device. When I connect my wallet, I am able to confirm my transactions.

I have found Ledger Nano S safe, fairly inexpensive, capable of running multiple apps, malware proofed and unhackable. My private key is not placed at risk or exposed online. I believe this is one of the best LTC wallet versions available. The Ledger Nano S can be integrated with numerous other wallets.

Trezor: The Trezor is an offline hardware wallet for litecoin. The wallet functions like a USB device using the zero-trust approach. I have found this approach minimizes any risks from a third-party. I believe this is one of the best wallets for litecoin due to the recovery seed in case my wallet is lost or stolen and the PIN protection provided. Although the Trezor was created specifically for bitcoin, 14 additional cryptocurrencies are also supported.

As a litecoin user, I have found this wallet extremely compatible. I believe this is one of the most trustworthy wallets due to the cross-compatibility and recovery seed features. I have found the interface is exceptionally easy to use. I am protected from theft and hacking due to the PIN protection. Communication with my other devices is limited. When my wallet is not connected to a USB, it is turned off.

Freewallet: This is a multi-currency wallet for online use. Freewallet supports numerous currencies including ethereum, bitcoin and over 30 crypto tokens. Free transactions are enabled between users of Freewallet. I have used this wallet to purchase litecoin by credit card. In addition to being a web wallet, I can download using mobile devices including Android and iOS. The features I enjoy the most include 2-factor authentication and confirmation of multi-signature transactions.

Jaxx Liberty: Jaxx Liberty is one of the more recent crypto wallets attracting users by making the blockchain simpler. This is a multi-chain wallet providing support for seven different cryptocurrencies. These are litecoin, bitcoin, dash, bitcoin cash, ethereum, ethereum classic and REP. I appreciate having full control over my wallet. I also like the mobile compatibility and full accessibility to my desktop.

I am able to convert quickly between litecoin, bitcoin, DAO and etherium. In the future, I understand Jax Liberty will be compatible with all cryptocurrency coins due to the developers. I find this to be one of the best wallets for litecoin currently available. The forms available include a Chrome extension, a desktop app and apps for both iPhone and Android.

Exodus: One of the best desktop wallets for litecoin I have ever used is Exodus. The wallet supports almost three dozen different cryptocurrencies including litecoin, bitcoin, ethereum, Zcash and dash. Since this is a lite wallet, I do not have the entire blockchain stored on my desktop. I recommend Exodus for storing litecoins. The wallet offers me a lot more benefits than disadvantages. Due to the excellent interface, I have never experienced any issues accessing my wallet.

I am always in complete control. I can use the Exodus wallet for making direct transactions using a crypto network. The network receives my transaction fee as opposed to being paid to Exodus.

LoafWallet: The first iOS wallet ever invented for litecoin is Loaf Wallet. The developer is the creator of LTC, Charlie Lee. The original wallet was created specifically for Android users. Due to the large number of Android users interested in litecoin, LoafWallet has become the wallet of choice for numerous users. The Litecoin Foundations handles all of the maintenance required for LoafWallet.

This is an open-sourced, HD wallet for litecoin. There is a 12-word seed key for recovery. I appreciate the fact my funds can be restored if necessary. The inbuilt feature of the litecoin wallets enables the purchase of litecoin. I have created both iOS and Android litecoin wallets with LoafWallet. Different versions are available for both devices. I have also received the best rate when converting litecoin to bitcoin using this wallet.

Electrum LTC: Electrum LTC represents a lighter version of the core wallet for litecoin. I have used Electrum LTC as a desktop wallet. I have found this is one of the best wallets for litecoin available online. One of the best advantages is there is no need to sync the network. This feature has saved me some valuable time. The wallet provides extra protection because I am able to create a password with 12 digits. If I ever get hacked, I can freeze my password.

LiteAddress: This is a paper litecoin wallet ideal for storing a large amount of litecoin for a lengthy time period. LiteAddress is one of the most secure and least expensive hardware wallets. I want to mention anyone unsure how to use a paper wallet may have difficulties using LiteAddress. I have enjoyed using this particular wallet.

LiteVault: This is a simple and easy to use litecoin web wallet. The sign-up process is free. I only needed about 10 seconds to complete the process. The source code for the wallet is available publicly, but all of the wallets for the users are encrypted prior to reaching the server for the provider. This means I can stay in control of my private keys. The wallet was specifically created to be compatible with litecoin. No other cryptocurrencies are supported by LiteVault.

Litecoin Core: Litecoin Core was created for the desktop and is a free litecoin wallet. Once I began using the wallet on my desktop, my desktop started functioning as my wallet. All of my private keys are safely stored on my desktop. The wallet supports numerous operating systems including Mac, Windows and Linus. I had to allow around four days for my wallet to sync as a full node with the entire blockchain. Fortunately, I have a lot of storage space available because I needed it with this wallet. A different wallet is necessary for storing any multi-currency wallet.