Litecoin
$44.16
-0.4%(24h)30d
Today
-0.4%
30 Days
-2.6%
Price Change (24h)
-$0.1706
BTC$43,500+2.50%
ETH$2,650+1.80%
USDT$1.00+0.00%
BNB$320-0.50%
XRP$0.5200-1.20%
SOL$95.00+3.20%BTC$43,500+2.50%ETH$2,650+1.80%USDT$1.00+0.00%BNB$320-0.50%XRP$0.5200-1.20%SOL$95.00+3.20%Today
-0.4%
30 Days
-2.6%
Price Change (24h)
-$0.1706
LTC
441.60
Created in October 2011 by Charles Lee, a former Google engineer, Litecoin operates as a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency built on an open-source global payment network. The coin uses the scrypt hashing algorithm for its proof-of-work consensus mechanism. Litecoin enables users to send payments directly between parties without intermediaries. The blockchain generates a block roughly every 2.5 minutes, which is four times faster than Bitcoin's 10-minute block interval. With a maximum supply cap of 84 million coins (four times Bitcoin's 21 million), Litecoin's lower barrier to entry and faster transaction processing make it particularly appealing for everyday transactions.
Charles Lee, who previously worked as an engineer at Google, created Litecoin. Lee remains actively involved in the Litecoin Foundation and continues contributing to the project's development and community engagement efforts.
Litecoin's primary distinction lies in its technical improvements over Bitcoin. The use of scrypt instead of SHA-256 for proof-of-work makes mining more accessible by reducing reliance on specialized hardware. Faster block generation—every 2.5 minutes versus Bitcoin's 10 minutes—enables quicker transaction confirmations. With 84 million coins as its total supply, compared to Bitcoin's 21 million, Litecoin provides greater coin availability. These characteristics position Litecoin as a practical alternative to Bitcoin for frequent transactions while maintaining the core principles of decentralized cryptocurrency.
Like most proof-of-work (POW) cryptocurrencies, the amount of Litecoin in circulation gradually increases with each newly mined block. As of January 2021, 66.245 million LTC have already been mined out of a total maximum supply of 84 million. The Litecoin Foundation recently estimated it will be well over 100 years until Litecoin reaches full dilution (around the year 2140) — since the number of LTC mined per block decreases every four years as part of the block reward halving schedule. Around 500,000 LTC was instamined on day one after the LTC genesis block was mined and Charlie Lee and presumably other early Litecoin developers were among the first miners. Despite this, as a fairly distributed asset, the Litecoin developers or Charlie Lee do not receive any direct profits from the operation of Litecoin—other than anything they may earn as part of the regular mining process. When Litecoin listed on several markets in 2011, the Litecoin price hit $0.30. Then, from November to December 2013, it went on a massive bull run, with Litecoin price hitting a high of $44.73. However, the bear market and Mt. Gox hack caused Litecoin prices to crash in 2014, and prices consolidated within the $2 to $4 range for several years. In November and December of 2017, Litecoin price rallied over 500% to $358.34, on the back of the crypto bull market. Litecoin price hit an all-time high in May 2021, in the latest crypto bull run, which saw it reach $386.45 on May 9, 2021.
The Litecoin network employs a proof-of-work consensus mechanism using the scrypt algorithm. Miners compete to solve complex mathematical puzzles to validate transactions and secure the network, with successful miners receiving block rewards and transaction fees. This system ensures that altering past transactions would require redoing the computational work, making the network secure against attacks.
Litecoin (LTC) is available for trading on major cryptocurrency exchanges including Binance, Coinbase, and Kraken, with prominent trading pairs such as LTC/USD, LTC/BTC, and LTC/USDT.
Exchange data unavailable.
BTC$43,500+2.50%ETH$2,650+1.80%USDT$1.00+0.00%BNB$320-0.50%XRP$0.5200-1.20%SOL$95.00+3.20%