Thanks to its estimated market cap of $3.7 billion as at November, 2019, Litecoin sits in the sixth place among the world’s cryptocurrencies with the highest market capitalizations.
It’s noteworthy that following the dramatic valuation increase it experienced in 2017, Litecoin seems to have garnered more popularity. As contained in reports, Litecoin experienced an increase of over 7,000% in value.
Generally, this article is a review that captures some of the things you may want to know about Litecoin, including how it is mined, the kinds of wallets for storing Litecoins and the top exchanges for trading in Litecoins.
Litecoin Mining: How Is It Done?
Litecoin mining is simply the process of creating or generating Litecoins. Broadly, Litecoin mining involves the S-crypt algorithm and in a similar style to Bitcoin, Litecoin utilizes the Proof of Work (POW) consensus mechanism.
Litecoin mining further necessitates the use of GPUs or computers with heavy RAMs. While statistics indicate that Litecoin is one of the most valuable crypto-coins with a record of substantial mining, it’s quite notable that the number of mineable Litecoin is pegged at 84 million LTCs.
Storing Litecoins: What Are the Best Wallets out There?
Litecoins can be stored in a way very similar to that of other cryptocurrencies. Therefore, traders dealing in Litecoins can make a storage preference between cold and hot wallets. Specifically, cold wallets refer to hardware wallets while hot wallets are alternatively described as online wallets.
Both hardware wallets and online wallets have peculiar advantages and drawbacks. Nonetheless, hardware wallets are considered the better alternatives on grounds of safety. In other words, hardware wallets guarantee a high degree of security since they are difficult to hack. If you’re considering a hardware wallet for storing your Litecoins, you may opt for any of the products from the following hardware wallet manufacturers:
- KeepKey
- Bitfi
- Ledger
- Trezor
Provided that hot/online wallets are what you prefer, you can try out any of the following online (Litecoin) wallet providers:
- Coinomi –while this wallet provider supports Litecoin and 560+ other cryptocurrencies, it basically functions as a downloadable mobile app
- Coinbase –this wallet provider caters to over 10 cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Bitcoin and Litecoin
- Exodus –there are over 100 coins (inclusive of Litecoin) supported on Exodus online wallet
- Quidax –this crypto wallet provider offers wallets for storing various cryptocurrencies including Ethereum, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Bitcoin Gold, Naira
- Jaxx –there are more than 100 coins (inclusive of Litecoin) supported on Jaxx online wallet
- Remitano –this wallet provider caters to a variety of cryptocurrencies including Ripple, Bitcoin Cash, Tether, Ethereum, Tether and Bitcoin
Where to Buy/Sell Litecoin
The dramatic wave in Litecoin’s popularity has impacted a tremendous increase in the number of exchanges (online platforms) where people can trade in Litecoins. Below is a list of the best exchanges for buying or selling Litecoins:
- Remitano
- Binance
- Blockvila
- Changelly
- BuyCoins
- Quidax
- Coindirect
- Luno
- CoinCola
- Paybis
Is Litecoin a Better Cryptocurrency than Bitcoin?
Pitting Litecoin against Bitcoin, one will probably observe that Bitcoin is a much greater crypto-coin than Litecoin. In fact, Bitcoin’s highly coveted reputation (as the world’s most valuable cryptocurrency) is enough reason to substantiate that Bitcoin is superior to Litecoin. Barring the preceding claim however, Litecoin does maintain a couple of advantages over Bitcoin.
Precisely, Litecoin is capable of executing more transactions (than Bitcoin does). Courtesy of its 2.5-minute transaction verification time (as against the 10 minutes experienced with Bitcoin), Litecoin boasts an efficient confirmation speed, considered 4 times as fast as Bitcoin’s.
Conclusion
This review article must have provided you with insightful information about Litecoin. Quite frankly, the cryptocurrency sphere has witnessed the dramatic emergence of other powerful coins. With this creating a great deal of competition among cryptocurrencies, Litecoin is yet one of the coins that have withstood competition over the years.