Litecoin
Official Litecoin logo | |
| Denominations | |
|---|---|
| Plural | Litecoins |
| Symbol | Ł |
| Code | LTC |
| Precision | 10−8 |
| Subunits | |
| 1⁄1000 | lites, millilitecoin, mŁ |
| 1⁄1000000 | microlitecoins, photons, μŁ |
| 1⁄100000000 | litoshis |
| Development | |
| Original author(s) | Charlie Lee |
| Initial release | 0.1.0 / 7 October 2011 |
| Latest release | 0.21.4 / 2 March 2023 |
| Code repository | github |
| Development status | Active |
| Project fork of | Bitcoin |
| Written in | C++ |
| Operating system | Windows, OS X, Linux, Android |
| Developer(s) | Litecoin Core Development Team |
| Source model | Open source |
| License | MIT License |
| Ledger | |
| Ledger start | 7 October 2011 |
| Timestamping scheme | Proof-of-work |
| Hash function | scrypt |
| Issuance schedule | Block reward: initially Ł50, halved every 840,000 blocks |
| Block reward | Ł6.25 (as of 2023) |
| Block time | 2.5 minutes |
| Circulating supply | Ł75,310,895 (16 December 2024) |
| Supply limit | Ł84,000,000 |
| Valuation | |
| Exchange rate | US$123.02 (December 2024) |
| Website | |
| Website | litecoin |
| |
Litecoin (Abbreviation: LTC; sign: Ł) is a decentralized peer-to-peer cryptocurrency and open-source software project released under the MIT/X11 license. Inspired by Bitcoin, Litecoin was the second cryptocurrency starting in October 2011. In technical details, the Litecoin main chain shares a slightly modified Bitcoin codebase. The practical effects of those codebase differences are lower transaction fees, faster transaction confirmations, and faster mining difficulty retargeting. Due to its underlying similarities to Bitcoin, Litecoin has historically been referred to as the "silver to Bitcoin's gold." In 2022, Litecoin added optional privacy features via soft fork through the MWEB (MimbleWimble extension block) upgrade.