There has been an increased public interest in cryptocurrencies over the past few years. While Bitcoin stands dominate in the market, Litecoin also holds a position as one of the top five cryptocurrencies in the market. What are key differences in Litecoin Vs. Bitcoin? What similarities do they share?
What’s The Difference Between Litecoin and Bitcoin?
1. Total Amount of Coins
To maintain the value of all cryptocurrencies, there is always a predetermined stop number. For Bitcoin, mining will stop when the number reaches 21 million coins in circulation. For Litecoin, however, mining will stop when there are 84 million coins in circulation. While this may seem like an advantage Litecoin has over Bitcoin, it doesn’t necessarily increase Litecoin’s value.
2. Algorithms
While Bitcoin is run with the SHA-256 algorithm, Litecoin depends on Scrypt. This is the most important difference between both cryptocurrencies. Scrypt is comparatively new compared to SHA-256. These algorithms impact mining differently. The transaction confirmation process in Bitcoin requires substantial power. It is more complex than the Scrypt algorithm which uses less computing power making it more accessible to the users.
3. Market Capitalization
Bitcoin is far more popular than Litecoin. In terms of market capitalization, Bitcoin dominates the industry with roughly $116.42 billion making it the highest valued player in the game. Litecoin’s market capitalization was about $6.4 billion at the time of writing.
4. Transaction Processing Speed
Although all cryptocurrency transactions occur instantly, the time required for confirmation varies from network to network. While Bitcoin’s average transaction confirmation speed is 10 minutes, the Litecoin network requires about 2.5 minutes to confirm a single transaction.
Conclusion
Litecoin and Bitcoin are the silver and gold of cryptocurrencies. Both have grown significantly over the years and have shown promise in the cryptoverse. No one knows if both coins will retain their positions in the coming months talkless of years. The structure of the industry can change significantly over a period of a few months.
https://smartereum.com/crypto-price-list/
