Litecoin (LTC) is a decentralized cryptocurrency that was created in 2011 as a fork of the Bitcoin blockchain. It was created by Charlie Lee, a former Google engineer, with the goal of providing faster and cheaper transactions than Bitcoin. Litecoin operates on a proof-of-work consensus algorithm and has a block time of 2.5 minutes, compared to Bitcoin’s 10 minutes. This allows for faster confirmation times and lower transaction fees.
Additionally, Litecoin also uses a different hashing algorithm, Scrypt, which is designed to be more memory-intensive and resistant to ASIC mining. Litecoin is often considered as the “silver” to Bitcoin’s “gold” and is widely accepted as a form of payment by merchants and businesses. It’s also a store of value and a medium of exchange.