Litecoin (LTC), released in October 2011, is a global decentralized digital currency, based on blockchain technology. It is often referred to as a lightweight
Bitcoin, because it's technically nearly identical, but substantially cheaper. All transactions are recorded on a public ledger called The Blockchain. It allows faster processing and faster transaction confirmation. It has the fourth largest market capitalization of all the cryptocurrencies and is carried by many exchanges.
The number of units is capped at 84 million and almost 49 million are in supply. Because of this cap, inflation won't decrease their value. Litecoin miners use their computers resources to support the cryptocurrency that's based on an open source protocol and get rewarded with Litecoins if they have done a certain amount of cryptographic work. Units can be bought or sold against bitcoin or against a fiat currency like the
USD or the
EUR. You can also purchase good and services with them.
