LTC

Litecoin is a proof-of-work cryptocurrency launched in 2011 as a fork of Bitcoin's codebase, modified to produce blocks approximately every 2.5 minutes (compared to Bitcoin's 10 minutes) and to use the Scrypt hashing algorithm rather than SHA-256. These changes were originally intended to make Litecoin more suitable for everyday transactions with faster confirmation times and broader mining accessibility. Like Bitcoin, Litecoin has a fixed supply cap (84 million coins) and a halving schedule that reduces block rewards approximately every four years. The network has historically served as a testbed for Bitcoin protocol upgrades, adopting Segregated Witness and the Lightning Network before Bitcoin in some cases. Litecoin maintains consistent transaction volume and wide exchange support as one of the longest-running alternative cryptocurrencies. For traders, LTC is a lower-volatility altcoin that tends to follow Bitcoin's directional trends with moderate beta.