Litecoins

Litecoins, commonly referred to as Litecoin, is a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency created in 2011 by Charlie Lee as a fork of Bitcoin's codebase. Its design emphasized faster transaction confirmation and a different hashing algorithm, while remaining compatible with Bitcoin's basic principles.

Technologically, Litecoin uses the Scrypt proof-of-work algorithm instead of Bitcoin's SHA-256. This choice, together with a shorter target block time of 2.5 minutes, results in faster confirmation of transactions. The system has a maximum supply of 84 million coins. The block reward started at 50 LTC and halves roughly every 840,000 blocks; after several halving events, the per-block reward is currently 6.25 LTC. Issuance will continue until the cap is reached, which is expected in the distant future.

Economics and usage: Litecoin is traded on major crypto exchanges and is accepted by a range of merchants and services. It is widely regarded as one of the longest-standing altcoins and is often described as a lightweight counterpart to Bitcoin due to its faster block times and similar monetary policy.

Governance and development: The project is open source and largely stewarded by the Litecoin Foundation along with independent developers and volunteers. Improvements and bug fixes are implemented through community-driven processes and recognized proposals.

Security and reception: Like other cryptocurrencies, Litecoin faces volatility, regulatory considerations, and competitive pressure from newer networks. Its ongoing relevance depends on user adoption, developer activity, and interoperability with broader crypto infrastructure.