Litecoin (Litecoin) is a network currency based on "peer-to-peer" (peer-to-peer) technology. ="nofollow">BTC), and has the same technical realization principle. It differs from Bitcoin in that consumer-grade hardware can also be "mined" efficiently, providing faster transaction confirmation (2.5 minutes on average). The Litecoin network is expected to produce 84 million currency units.

With the popularity of Bitcoin, a large number of "cottage" Bitcoin electronic currencies have emerged around the world. Up to now, there are at least 30 other electronic currencies around the world, such as Litecoin, Primecoin, Biocoin, Ripplecoin, Zhaocaicoin, Megacoin and so on. The most famous of these altcoins is Litecoin, and there is even a saying in the industry that "Bit Gold, Lite Silver".

Charlie Lee, the creator of Litecoin, graduated from MIT and used to be an employee of Google. He designed Litecoin in 2011.

Litecoin is inspired by Bitcoin and has the same technical realization principle. The creation and transfer of Litecoin is based on an open source encryption protocol, which is not managed by any central authority.

Litecoin and Bitcoin

Litecoin, which aims to improve upon Bitcoin, has three significant differences compared to Litecoin.

First, the Litecoin network can process a block every 2.5 minutes (rather than 10 minutes), thus providing faster transaction confirmation.

Second, the Litecoin network is expected to produce 84 million Litecoins, which is four times the amount of currency issued by the Bitcoin network.

Third, Litecoin uses the scrypt encryption algorithm first proposed by Colin Percival in its workload proof algorithm, which makes it easier to mine Litecoin on ordinary computers compared to Bitcoin. Each Litecoin is divided into 100,000,000 smaller units, defined by eight decimal places.

From the perspective of qualifications, Litecoin has a latecomer advantage over Bitcoin. Since Bitcoin is the first of its kind, if it wants to become a global currency, it still needs to make major improvements. The main reason is that the current unit share is too small to become a valuation and settlement currency in people's lives and transactions. Secondly, it takes about 10 minutes for a Bitcoin transaction to be confirmed.

The number of mines in Litecoin is 4 times that of Bitcoin, so there is naturally more room for expansion in the future, and the transaction confirmation time of Litecoin is about 2.5 minutes, which is more suitable for daily transactions. Therefore, Litecoin was able to stand out from the altcoins.

The rapid development of Litecoin

"If you can't afford Bitcoin, try Litecoin." Some Bitcoin players said. The madness of Bitcoin has attracted countless eyeballs, and its "brothers" - the madness of other altcoins are not inferior to Bitcoin, and Litecoin is one of the leaders. Statistics show that due to the low price, Chinese speculators have controlled global Litecoin transactions.

Compared to the infinite scenery of Bitcoin in recent years, Litecoin, another online virtual currency, is not inferior at all. The increase since November 2013 is even more astonishing. From 27 yuan on November 17, 2013 to 117 yuan on November 27, in just 10 days, Litecoin rose by more than 300%. Subsequently, the price of Litecoin once exceeded 300 yuan. As of December 16, 2013, the price of Litecoin on domestic trading platforms fell back to around 170 yuan. Litecoin is considered to be "the most successful virtual currency with an improved Bitcoin algorithm", and there is even a saying in the industry that "Bitcoin is gold, Litecoin is silver".

Since the beginning of 2018, the price of Litecoin has risen all the way from less than 1 yuan, and even doubled at a crazy speed every day. And many other virtual currencies such as prime coins and bio coins were only worth a few cents at the beginning of the year, and now they have risen to tens of dollars. Some analysts said that these virtual currencies, which have a smaller total market than Bitcoin, are more prone to roller coaster-style skyrocketing and plummeting.

According to the data of overseas media, China has not only become the largest market for Bitcoin transactions in the world, but also controls global Litecoin transactions. .

Winding Litecoin

Charlie Lee liquidated Litecoin in December 2017, known as the "God Operation" in the currency circle. He claimed on social media that he had sold and donated all his Litecoins, but he did not announce the amount and price of the sale.

In this regard, Charlie Lee said that he is sometimes accused of personal gain when talking about the price of cryptocurrencies on social media, so he believes that holding Litecoin and publishing articles about it constitutes a conflict of interest. However, many investors questioned that Li Qiwei had lost confidence in Litecoin and wanted to withdraw from it.

At that time, Litecoin showed a significant upward momentum, reaching a high price of $375 before Charlie Lee was liquidated, an increase of 7000% compared to the beginning of the year. After its liquidation, both Litecoin and Bitcoin saw sharp price pullbacks in 2018, with the cryptocurrency market in a downturn.

After liquidating Litecoin, Charlie Lee once said in an interview that he "regretted selling all Litecoins" because the selling price was lower than the highest level in history in the short term, but he still believes that this is the right decision in the long run , saying it will fade out after the success of Litecoin.