Litecoin

Litecoin is an early and prominent cryptocurrency often referred to as “the silver to Bitcoin’s gold.” Created in 2011 by former Google engineer Charlie Lee, it was designed as a lighter, faster, and more accessible alternative to Bitcoin. While based on Bitcoin’s open-source code, Litecoin distinguishes itself with a few key features.

It has a much faster block generation time of just 2.5 minutes, compared to Bitcoin’s 10, which allows for quicker transaction confirmations. Additionally, its maximum supply is four times larger, capped at 84 million coins. Litecoin also uses a different mining algorithm called Scrypt, which was initially intended to make mining more accessible to individuals and prevent the centralization seen with specialized hardware (ASICs). These technical differences position Litecoin as a viable and efficient medium for everyday payments, while maintaining the same decentralized, peer-to-peer security model as Bitcoin.