BitCoin vs LiteCoin: A Detailed Comparison
In old age we had barter system, where goods were exchanged by people to fulfill their different needs. With the invention of money and currencies, the barter system became obsolete and people started to pay for goods and services in paper currency like USD, Euro etc. However, in recent times we saw the rise of paper-less currencies called Crypto Currency like Bitcoin, litecoin etc. bitcoin vs litecoin
These are the inventions of 21st century and are based on integrity of the computer networks instead of political or legal backing of a country. The crypto currencies are decentralized in nature as opposed to traditional currencies which are highly centralized.
The following paragraphs compare these crypto currencies and enlist their features in finer detail.
Bit Coin
Bitcoin is the first ever crypto-currency developed by Satoshi Nakamoto in Jan 3, 2009. Satoshi is either a group or individual hacker from Japan whose real identity is in question till this day. Despite of the fact that its inventor is in question, this crypto currency is the most popular and highly valued in terms of market capitalization.
The Current Market Value of 1 Bit Coin = $11580
According to 2017 Market Survey Bit Coin holds 50% of the Crypto Currency Market
The Maximum Limit of Bit Coin that can be mined stands at 21 million coins. The mining process can never exceed this amount. 2/3rd of the coins are already mined and are in possession of early miners.
The Transaction Time of Bit Coin stands at 9 minutes per transaction, according to blockchain.info
The Bit Coin uses a complex algorithm called SHA-256 which makes use of ASICs (Application-Specific Integrated Circuits). These are complex hardware arrangements, unlike, CPUs and GPUs. The process of bitcoin mining is out of bounds of normal users and it requires specialize knowledge of blockchain (public ledger of bit coin)
Fun Facts: One hundred millionth of a bit coin is known as a Satoshi (0.00000001)
Programmers celebrate March 22nd as Bit Coin Pizza Day, in memory of a programmer who bought 2 pizzas for 10,000 BTC in 2010. The present value of such transaction approximately equals $38.1 million. Who would have thought that Bitcoins will rise so much in future?
Lite Coin
Litecoin is the silver to Bitcoin’s gold status. It was launched in Oct 7, 2011; created by Charlie Lee, former Goolge Employee and MIT Graduate. Litecoin does not enjoy same popularity and market share like Bitcoin.
The Current Market Value of 1 LiteCoin = $232
According to 2017 Market Survey Litecoin holds only 4% of the Crypto Currency Market
The Maximum Limit of Litecoins that can be mined are 84 million coins. This number is far greater than the maximum limit of Bitcoins that is 21 million.
The Transaction Time of Litecoin is 2.5 minutes, which is much faster than Bitcoin’s 9 minutes. This is the reason why merchants prefer Litecoins instead of Bitcoins in small valued transactions.
Consumers like to deal in whole numbers instead of fractions; and Litecoin’s higher maximum limit of 84 million gives much bigger room for that. To offset this, Bitcoin uses Multibit or Electrum to showcase fractions of Bitcoin to equivalent currencies like USD , Euro etc
Litecoin uses Scrypt Algorithm which is more simpler than SHA-256 of Bitcoin. It does rely on simpler CPU or GPU mining rather than ASIC system of Bitcoins. This makes it easy for normal users to participate in the mining process more easily without advance knowledge of coding and mining.
Fan Fact: The MIT graduate Charlie Lee wanted to make Crypto currencies accessible to everyone. His goal was to make Litecoin equivalent of Silver as Bitcoin is equivalent of Gold.
Future
Eherium, launched in 2015 has gained 20% of the market share. It has beaten all other well established crypto currencies in a very short span of time. This seems like a competitor to the status quo of Bitcoin; and has garnered 2nd Position so far.
Next Blog: Etherium Crypto Currency
Content Written By: Waqas Khan
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