Crypto Academy Week 9 - Homework Post for [@yohan2on] … Altcoins – Part1 "Looking beyond the Bitcoin" - LITECOIN (LTC) AS AN ALTCOIN

It's so pleasing to resume back to class and learn from crypto professors around the globe. Here is my homework task to @yohan2on

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Litecoin (LTC) As An Altcoin

The first thing to know about litecoin is that litecoin was created as an Altcoin. The word altcoin is made of two fragments; 'alt' and 'coin'. The 'Alt' represents Alternative while the 'Coin' represents digital coin(cryptocurrency). Thus, Altcoin means Alternative cryptocurrency. However, this name was coined in order to differentiate every other cryptocurrencies from their Progenitor, Bitcoin. Bitcoin being the first cryptocurrency holds the benchmark for every other digital currency; and thus we have only 'Bitcoin' and 'other alternatives' in world of digital currency.

Why Was Litecoin (Altcoin) Created?

Litecoin like other other Altcoins were created to correct the flaws of the Bitcoin protocol. Not long after inception of Bitcoin, miners and and developers grows dissatisfaction of the bitcoin protocol so they intended to create a better cryptosphere by creating alternative coins to the existing blockchain. Litecoin was birthed in pursue of this purpose. Litecoin was set up by Charlie Lee, an ex-google employee and was launched in October 2011, two years after bitcoin. Litecoin was focused to correct some of the flaws of the existing blockchain. The bitcoin has some dissatisfactory features such as its;

• Slow Transaction Speed: It takes 10 minutes to create a new block on the Bitcoin blockchain which is not suitable when the number of users grow massively.
• High Mining/Transaction Cost:To mine bitcoin there is a high consumption of energy and resources due to Proof of Work(PoW) and SHA-256 hash algorithm system adopted. This definitely reflect as a relative high transaction fee.
• Low Scalability: This refers to the amount of transactions that can be executed per seconds. The Bitcoin protocol can only execute seven transactions per seconds which is far smaller to that of many altcoins of today.
  ...these are few among others.

Litecoin As A Solution To Bitcoin Flaws

It's sosoHoweverHowever, litecoin has been able to address this and proves that it can be better.

• Litecoin produces a new block in just 2.5 minutes which is four times the speed of that of bitcoin.
• Mining Litecoin does not consume as much energy as bitcoin as it uses a less sophisticated hash algorithm known as Scrypt.
• Less cost of mining, thus less transaction fee
• Mining of litecoin is accessible to anyone with CPU or GPU unlike the bitcoin world where mining is dominated by customised mining hardware.
• Litecoin proves to be more scalable as it execute 56 transactions per seconds compared to that of bitcoin.
• There are 84 million minable litecoind which is four times the number of bitcoin that would exist.

Litecoin features really proves it to be a better alternative to Bitcoin.

Litecoin as A Spendable Currency

Litecoin as an alternative, does not only correct the flaws of bitcoin but also pursue to fulfill its purpose. Bitcoin was created to be a digital currency; valuable and spendable. It is designed to be a means of exchange; a means of exchange in a decentralised manner. With time bitcoin grows to be heavier and preferably became a store of value but Litecoin keeps to maintain the purpose of day to day means of exchange and payment. Litecoin blockchain is decentralised i.e it is peer to peer exchange without a regulatory body.

Litecoin Comes From The Mines

The Litecoin is a minable coin and it's only obtained by the process of mining. Mining a Litecoin is similar to mining a bitcoin as they both use the Proof of Work(PoW) consensus. In PoW, the miners compete to solve a cryptograhic puzzle which would enable them verify and add a new block to the chain. The node (miner) that successfully have this done earns the new coin reward. In mining litecoin, the Scrypt hash algorithm is used and not so difficult to solve. It is fast, consume less energy and holds more transactions per time.

Bitcoin birth Litcoin by a Fork

Litecoin came into existence resting its foundation on the bitcoin existing blockchain. It was brought about by Initial Fork Offering or Hard Fork. This involves creating a new blockchain out of an old version. This is done by developers/miners who grow dissatisfaction of the old version and thus comes to an agreement to make new rules and hence creating a diversion to the new blockchain.

Conclusion

Litecoin serves an alternative to bitcoin and a fast decentralised means of exchange and payment. Litecoin is well known and has a significant number of users and investors, shown by market capitalization. Litecoin can be traded and as well held as investment. It can be obtained on various exchange like coinbase, binance etc and stored in a software or hardware wallet. Altcoins has made the cryptosphere better in various aspect and their numbers are increasing daily.
Thank you
@yohan2on