Litecoin is a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency created by Charlie Lee. It was created based on the Bitcoin protocol but differs in terms of the hashing algorithm used. Litecoin uses the memory intensive Scrypt proof of work mining algorithm. Scrypt allows consumer-grade hardware such as GPU to mine those coins. Why Litecoin? Litecoin is a cryptocurrency that has evolved from Bitcoin after its own popularity in the industry, this alternative, or ‘altcoin’ has emerged to allow investors to diversify their digital currency package, according to Investopedia. Litecoin is one of the most prominent altcoins and was created by former Google employee and Director of Engineering at Coinbase, Charlie Lee. Litecoin was the first to alter Bitcoin and the most significant difference is that it takes 2.5 minutes for Litecoin to generate a block, or transaction, in comparison to Bitcoin's 10 minutes. ‘While this matters little to traders, miners who use hardware to run Bitcoin's network cannot switch over to Litecoin. This keeps bigger mining conglomerates away from Litecoin because they cannot easily optimize their profits by swapping to another coin, contributing to a more decentralized experience. Litecoin also has bigger blocks, and more coins in circulation, making it more affordable and swift when transacting,’ Investopedia explained. As explained above, Litecoin can transact a lot faster than Bitcoin, but there are also a number of other characteristics that investors need to know before trading. Litecoin can handle higher volumes of transactions because of the capability of transacting faster and if Bitcoin attempted to transact on the scale of its altcoin, a code update would be needed. However, Litecoin’s blocks would be larger, but with more ‘orphaned blocks'. The faster block time of litecoin reduces the risk of double spending attacks - this is theoretical in the case of both networks having the same hashing power. Litecoin Technical Details: The transaction confirmation time taken for Litecoin is about 2.5 minutes on average (as compared to Bitcoin's 10 minutes). The Litecoin network is scheduled to cap at 84 million currency units. Litecoin has inspired many other popular alternative currencies (eg. Dogecoin) because of its Scrypt hashing algorithm in order to prevent ASIC miners from mining those coins. However it is said that by the end of this year, Scrypt ASIC will enter the mass market.
Komodo is an end-to-end blockchain infrastructure solutions provider. Consistently recognized as one of the world’s most innovative blockchain projects, Komodo is developing technologies at the cutting-edge of the blockchain industry. In reality, most blockchain platforms today are but a single blockchain that offers support for smart contracts and decentralized applications. This model forces all projects to share the same infrastructure, leading to congestion, increased transactions fees, and stifled growth. Whereas other blockchain platforms employ a single, shared-blockchain model, Komodo’s federated multi-chain architecture provides each and every external project with independent infrastructure and a dedicated blockchain. This multi-chain design is what makes Komodo unique among blockchain platforms. Each project is given the opportunity to create their own blockchain ecosystem via Komodo’s infinitely scalable infrastructure. Komodo’s tech enables seamless cross-chain interoperability among all federated blockchains. Every blockchain built with Komodo is also connected to 95% of chains outside the federation via atomic swap technology. Future plans are in place for blockchain bridging support, which will create cross-chain fungibility throughout the entire blockchains industry. Moreover, with Komodo’s architecture, multiple blockchains can sync up and function as a single chain. If one chain is not meeting performance needs, additional chains can be added to form a blockchain cluster. A blockchain cluster boosts performance linearly without inflating coin supply or devaluing the currency. The Komodo ecosystem is not only scalable and interoperable, it’s also secured with the power of the Bitcoin network. This is accomplished with a series of cross-chain notarizations that store a blockhash onto the Bitcoin ledger every ten minutes, providing protection from 51% attacks. Join Komodo as we continue to accelerate the global adoption of blockchain technology.