CRYPTO - BITCOIN DOGE etc

There are 180 internationally recognized currencies in circulation, ranging from the Samoan tala to the Burmese kyat. Just like with regular currency, there are multiple cryptocurrencies too. Because it was the first, bitcoin gets all the publicity, but it competes against dozens of aspiring alternatives—one of which is litecoin.

Measured by market capitalization (or the amount of currency on the market), litecoin is the third largest cryptocurrency after bitcoin and XRP. Litecoin, like its contemporaries, functions in one sense as an online payment system. Like PayPal or a bank’s online network, users can use it to transfer currency to one another. Only instead of using U.S. dollars, it conducts transactions in units of litecoin. That is where litecoin’s similarity to most traditional currency and payment systems ends. (Related The 5 Most Important Virtual Currencies Other Than Bitcoin)

How Litecoin Is Made?

Like all cryptocurrencies, litecoin is not issued by a government, which historically has been the only entity that society trusts to issue money. Instead being regulated by a Federal Reserve and coming off a press at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, litecoins are created by the elaborate procedure called mining, which consists of processing a list of litecoin transactions. Unlike traditional currencies, the supply of litecoins is fixed. There will ultimately be only 84 million litecoins in circulation and not one more. Every 2.5 minutes (as opposed to 10 minutes for bitcoin), the litecoin network generates a what is called a block—a ledger entry of recent litecoin transactions throughout the world. And here is where litecoin’s inherent value derives.

The block is verified by mining software and made visible to any “miner” who wants to see it. Once a miner verifies it, the next block enters the chain, which is a record of every litecoin transaction, ever.