Litecoin is a very well-established cryptocurrency, as it was one of the very first coins to gain traction after Bitcoin entered the scene in 2009. Litecoin was launched in 2011 by computer scientist Charlie Lee and has been one of the most relevant altcoins for practically its entire existence.  Litecoin was created as a fork of the Bitcoin Core client and still shares many of its defining characteristics with Bitcoin. In the cryptocurrency it is often said that if Bitcoin represents gold, Litecoin represents silver.  Key Litecoin features: Created by Charlie Lee as a fork of Bitcoin in 2011  Shares many properties with Bitcoin, but enables faster transactions Uses Scrypt-based PoW instead of SHA256-based PoW Litecoin’s block time target is four times faster than Bitcoin’s (2.5 minutes compared to 10 minutes). Litecoin’s maximum supply cap is four times larger than Bitcoin’s (84 million compared to 21 million).  Similarly to Bitcoin, the Litecoin blockchain also reaches consensus through a proof-of-work (PoW) mechanism. However, Litecoin doesn’t use a SHA256-based PoW algorithm, but instead uses a Scrypt-based algorithm.  These features allows the Litecoin blockchain to process transactions faster than the Bitcoin blockchain. Litecoin also has a block reward halving mechanism, which occurs approximately every four years. The latest Litecoin halving, which occurred in 2019, lowered the LTC reward from 25 LTC per block to 12.5 LTC per block.  In general, Litecoin is seen as a faster but less robust alternative to Bitcoin. Due to its comparably faster speed, Litecoin advocates are actively promoting LTC as a cryptocurrency that is convenient for use in everyday transactions.  In the future, Litecoin could potentially have features that would make it much more than Bitcoin’s little brother. For example, Litecoin developers are experimenting with implementing the MimbleWimble privacy technology into Litecoin to enable private LTC transactions.  On CoinCodex, you can stay up to date with the latest information regarding the Litecoin price, market cap and news.