Tag Archives: Litecoin

Best Cryptocurrencies to Invest in 2021

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Bitcoin (BTC)

Theories on Bitcoin’s utility differ, but there’s no denying that it’s been the dominant player in its field since its creation. Bitcoin’s growing adoption is its saving grace; both retail and institutional investors are primed to dip their toes into cryptocurrencies with Bitcoin first. Plus, some of today’s smartest business minds are increasingly gravitating toward the “digital gold.” Although Bitcoin’s price lost more than half within two months of hitting all-time highs of about $65,000. Bitcoin on its balance sheet earlier this year could serve to usher in more corporate treasury inflows over time.

Ethereum (ETH)

Next to Bitcoin, Ethereum is the second-largest cryptocurrency. It was launched in 2015 with just a supply of 72 million coins. Since last year, Ethereum has seen a 946.8% increase, and the new launches on its network are exciting market experts and experienced investors.

Tether (USDT)

Unlike some other forms of cryptocurrency, Tether is a stablecoin, meaning it’s backed by fiat currencies like U.S. dollars and the Euro and hypothetically keeps a value equal to one of those denominations. In theory, this means Tether’s value is supposed to be more consistent than other cryptocurrencies, and it’s favored by investors who are wary of the extreme volatility of other coins.

Litecoin (LTC)

Litecoin is one of the most valuable cryptos in the industry, with a market cap of over $9.2 billion. It was created through a fork in the Bitcoin blockchain and is one of the oldest cryptos in the market. It has gained an incredible 215% in the past 12 months. However, it has stumbled quite a bit of late. In the past week, though, LTC has shown signs of a rebound, which indicates a reversal of its fortunes.

Similar to BTC, LTC is open-sourced and highly decentralized. Additionally, it is also quicker than BTC, as it takes only 2.5 minutes per transaction, rather than nine minutes. Its transactions are also at least 40% cheaper than Bitcoin.

Binance Coin (BNB)

Binance Coin is a utility cryptocurrency that operates as a payment method for the fees associated with trading on the Binance Exchange. Those who use the token as a means of payment for the exchange can trade at a discount. Binance Coin’s blockchain is also the platform that Binance’s decentralized exchange operates on. 

Binance Coin was initially an ERC-20 token that operated on the Ethereum blockchain. It eventually had its own main net launch. The network uses a proof-of-stake consensus model. As of January 2021, Binance has a $6.8 billion market capitalization with one BNB having a value of $44.26.

Dogecoin

For any cryptocurrency to survive over the long run, it needs to have a real-world purpose. Dogecoin, though, doesn’t have much of competitive advantage in the industry.

The vast majority of merchants do not currently accept Dogecoin as a form of payment, and there are several other cryptocurrencies with lower transaction fees than Dogecoin. The primary reason its price has exploded over the past several months is that it gained a large fan following. But once those investors inevitably move on to something new, Dogecoin’s price will plummet.

Cardano (ADA)

Because of its flexible network and fast transactions, Cardano is expected to remain one of the most popular cryptocurrencies. Scalability, interoperability, and sustainability are among its chief selling points. The recent update finally brought the ability to build smart contracts on Cardano’s network. Cardano has always been a venture that takes its time and accomplishes things gradually.

VeChain 

If you’re looking for a cheap digital coin to invest in, then VeChain may be the best answer for you. The VeChain currency is based on the VeChain Thor Blockchain. It’s a blockchain specifically designed for handling supply chain management and various business processes with the help of distributed ledgers. 

What is Litecoin? – Difference between bitcoin and litecoin

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What Is Litecoin?

Litecoin is a decentralized, open-source, peer-to-peer, and fully global payment network where transactions are conducted in litecoins or LTC units. Litecoin is an alternative for bitcoin Launched in 2011 that was created using the same basic structure as Bitcoin. The brain behind the creation of Litecoin is that of Charlie Lee, MIT graduate, an ex-Google engineer.

Charlie’s initial goal behind the launch of Litecoin was to offer an improvement where Bitcoin fell short and make it up to be ‘the silver to Bitcoin’s gold.’ Based on market capitalization, Litecoin has remained among the top 10 performing cryptocurrencies ever since its inception.

Main Features of Litecoin

  • Litecoin shares Bitcoin’s open-source codebase structure, with only a few differences.
  • Litecoin is not backed by any government or centralized financial institutes. 
  • Litecoins are created through a procedure named mining, where the Litecoin network is spread across a wide pool of entities dubbed miners. 
  • Miners are responsible for recording all data related to transactions made over the Litecoin network into blocks. These blocks then get arranged in an orderly fashion on the blockchain so that the most recent blocks are added at the end of a chain.
  • Since there is only one blockchain that all miners can access, the miners have to go through a tedious process to create a new block to maintain maximum security and avoid any manipulation of the stored data altogether. 
  • To create a legit block, a miner needs to encrypt it with a unique cryptographic hash, abiding by several rules. 
  • Once the created block passes scrutiny by mining software, it’s made visible to all miners. The miner who creates the block gets awarded with 12.5 litecoins.   
  • A new block is produced and added to the chain every 2.5 minutes.
  • Cryptocurrencies typically have a fixed number of coins in circulation, as opposed to the infinite supply of traditional currencies. 
  • When a cryptocurrency becomes quite popular, the undersupply causes its value to go up. Similarly, with Litecoin, there will only ever be 84 million litecoins available for mining.

Difference between Litecoin and Bitcoin

BitcoinLitecoin
Coin Limit21 million 84 million 
Block Generation TimeEach block takes 10 minutes to generate.Each block takes 2.5 minutes to generate.
AlgorithmSHA-256Scrypt
Market Capitalization$237.23 billion$3.627 billion
Reward at Inception50 BTC/block50 LTC/block
Current Block Reward6.25 BTC/block12.5 LTC/block

Litecoin’s Blockchain

The Litecoin blockchain is capable of handling higher transaction volume than its counterpart – Bitcoin. Due to more frequent block generation, the network supports more transactions without a need to modify the software in the future.

As a result, merchants get faster confirmation times, while still having the ability to wait for more confirmations when selling bigger ticket items.

Litecoin has so much scope for growth, potential uses, and wide adoption. Right now, we must observe which companies begin adopting it and accepting transactions for their products and services. Other than that, the future of Litecoin is anyone’s guess.

How to Buy Litecoin

Litecoin is purchased through cryptocurrency exchanges the way any other crypto would be bought. However, even though there’s a larger circulating supply of LTC than BTC, you’re not guaranteed that most exchanges will have Litecoins available for purchase or trade like you may be with Bitcoin. 

Litecoin can be bought directly through an exchange marketplace, or converted from digital currencies in cryptocurrency conversion services. 

Create your account at your chosen exchange. You’ll need to provide a valid email address for verification and create a strong password. Put in the payment information you plan on using. This can be a checking account or your credit/debit card information.

Specify Litecoin (LTC) as the crypto you wish to buy, and then the amount of money you want to spend on it. When you buy your LTC it’s good to store it in a wallet.