Litecoin is a cryptocurrency with wide brand recognition and near-universal support on exchanges and multi-currency crypto wallets, including hardware wallets. Created by Charlie Lee in 2011, Litecoin was launched as a fork of Bitcoin.
It is often described as "the silver to Bitcoin's gold" due to its speed and low transaction fees, making for relatively better useability.
Litecoin is regarded as one of the most trusted and time-tested alternatives for Bitcoin. It has always been regarded among the top crypto coins alongside Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Litecoin has also seen a long and steady rise in price. Starting at just a few cents each, Litecoin prices today tend to range between $100 to $150 per coin, representing a significant appreciation since launch.
Additionally, virtually every cryptocurrency exchange, wallet, and CeFi service support LTC or LTC trading. A growing number of platforms, including OKX, also offer the ability to earn a return just by holding Litecoin.
Litecoin also recently launched its highly anticipated MimbleWimble upgrade, which allows for totally anonymous transactions on the network, similar to other private networks like zCash (ZEC) and Monero (XMR).
In addition to comparatively low transaction fees, the Litecoin blockchain has a faster block time - 2.5 minutes, compared to Bitcoin's 10 minutes - and a larger maximum coin supply of 84 million coins. The Litecoin blockchain uses proof-of-work mining to process transactions and secures the chain.
Miners that mine Litecoin can also mine the popular Dogecoin (DOGE) simultaneously without needing additional energy. This means that as long as miners support Litecoin or Dogecoin, both chains will benefit from the increased security of having more miners.
