Litecoin Price

(LTC)
USD($)
LTC
Estimated
USD $ --
LTC/USDT5
‎$ 77.29-13.05%
LTC PERP/USDT75
‎$ 77.25-13.15%

Litecoin (LTC) Price Movements ($)

PeriodChangeChange (%)
Today$ -11.59-13.04%
7 Days$ -18.72-19.49%
30 Days$ -3.59-4.44%
3 Months$ -12.91-14.31%

Litecoin(LTC) Info

10
BB
Expand
Documentation
Contract
HECO 0xecb56c...3b4BSC 0x433866...b94
Audited By
--
Code & Community
Investors
--
‎$ 73.16
‎$ 89.35
‎$ 412.96
-0.49%
-13.05%
-19.53%
$ 5.68B 
$ 19.15M 
69,960,820
84,000,000

About LTC

What Is Litecoin (LTC)?

Litecoin (LTC) is a cryptocurrency that lets users conduct extremely fast, low-cost transfers and digital payments powered by blockchain technology. Litecoin’s network originated out of a hard fork from the original Bitcoin protocol, offering higher efficiency in terms of block times and transaction fees. Litecoin gets its name from being a “lite” version of Bitcoin, consuming fewer resources for mining and operations.

The Litecoin Network has been among the oldest cryptocurrencies, functioning alongside Bitcoin and Ethereum. However, unlike Ethereum that offers smart contract functionality and runs dApps, Litecoin’s network has been designed with a primary focus to drive up the adoption of cryptocurrencies for fast, cheap and secure digital payments.

Litecoin users benefit from a decentralized, open source, public and transparent blockchain infrastructure for businesses and consumers to send and receive payments instantly, all over the world. Litecoin is compared to silver among crypto enthusiasts who attribute Bitcoin to be the equivalent of gold in the crypto market.

This comparison within the cryptocurrency industry originates from the philosophy that Litecoin is a store of value just like Bitcoin, the only difference being that the Litecoin price is far lower than that of Bitcoin in the crypto market. One of the key reasons for the price difference between LTC and BTC is that Litecoin has a total supply of 84 million, four times the max supply of Bitcoin, which makes its circulating supply less rare than the leading cryptocurrency by market cap.

How Does Litecoin Work?

Litecoin’s blockchain is the largest decentralized network using a Scrypt-based mining system. Another leading cryptocurrency that leverages this technology is the popular memecoin, Dogecoin (DOGE). In addition to having a total supply four times larger than that of Bitcoin, Litecoin also enjoys a block size that is four times bigger than Bitcoin’s block size.

This makes it possible to perform merge-mining of LTC, a feature of using the same mining pool or mining resources to allow users to mine two different kinds of cryptocurrencies using the same system simultaneously. In this regard, mining Litecoin is a far less energy and cost-intensive process than Bitcoin mining.

The Litecoin blockchain leverages a proof of work (PoW) consensus and uses Scrypt’s hashing algorithm against Bitcoin which uses SHA-256, a more memory-intensive cryptographic technology. Miners perform complex mathematical calculations, known as hashes, while validating transactions within the Litecoin network and recording them in the form of new blocks in the blockchain. In the process of creating these new blocks, LTC coins get mined and added to the circulating supply, a portion of which the miners receive as block rewards for their efforts.

The rate at which new Litecoins get created drops by 50% over regular intervals to ensure that all the LTC doesn’t get mined within a span of a few years. In August 2015, the mining rate of LTC was halved from 50 to 25 LTCs, followed by the next halving in August 2019 which brought it down to 12.5 LTC. As of June 2022, the next Litecoin halving date is scheduled for 23 August 2023, which will reduce the mining rate to 6.25 LTCs and make the cryptocurrency harder to mine for and more valuable.

History of Litecoin

Litecoin (LTC) was created from a hard fork of Bitcoin blockchain on 9 October 2011 by early Bitcoin miner, former Google employee and Coinbase software engineer Charlie Lee. The hard fork from the original cryptocurrency’s source code enabled Litecoin to offer bigger block sizes, a block time of 2.5 minutes - which give a faster payment confirmation schedule, and a max supply of 84 million LTC in the market.

At the time of launch, the Litecoin network had a pre-mined supply of 150 LTC coins, which has since grown to over 70 million by June 2022. This leaves just under 14 million LTC left to mine over the next few years.

After the launch of the Litecoin cryptocurrency, Charlie Lee went on to establish the Litecoin Foundation. The Litecoin Foundation, headquartered in Singapore, is responsible for overseeing the development, advancement and adoption of Litecoin’s technology among the market.

The MimbleWimble (MW) testnet of the Litecoin network went live in late 2020 to offer higher scalability and security to its blockchain. The updated blockchain protocol ensures completely confidential transactions on the network without the need for addresses, making transactions not only more secure but also easier to conduct with near-zero-cost payments.

Another significant milestone in the history of Litecoin is its inclusion by payments leader PayPal as a supported currency within their digital wallet for US customers. PayPal’s crypto service supports BTC, ETH, and BCH in addition to LTC, letting their users transact using these digital currencies to send and receive payments.

FAQ

How can I buy Litecoin (LTC)?
Buying LTC on KuCoin is fast and simple. Create an account, verify your identity, deposit funds, and start your trading. It's that simple! See How to Buy Litecoin (LTC) for more information.
How much is 1 Litecoin (LTC) worth?
KuCoin provides real-time USD price updates for Litecoin (LTC). Litecoin price is affected by supply and demand, as well as market sentiment. Use the KuCoin Calculator to obtain real-time LTC to USD exchange rates.
Is Litecoin (LTC) a Good Investment?

Litecoin (LTC) is one of the oldest cryptocurrencies enjoying one of the biggest market capitalization among crypto assets. Having been around for almost as long as majors like Bitcoin and Ethereum, it is one the most widely accepted cryptocurrencies, enjoying a strong rate of adoption as a payment method by businesses, consumers and even leading payment gateways.

These factors make the LTC digital currency a worthwhile investment to consider having in your portfolio. In addition, Litecoin has a limited supply similar to that of Bitcoin, and is often considered a store of value just like the leading digital asset worldwide.

As silver to Bitcoin’s gold, LTC’s status as an investment opportunity is quite strong. As the adoption of digital currencies rises as both an investment class and as a technology to use, the Litecoin price could enjoy considerable support and climb higher.

In addition to an increase in the uptick of digital assets, the LTC price statistics could enjoy a higher push upwards as its next halving date approaches. As Litecoin mining becomes more complex, the price of LTC crypto can rise even higher, especially since it has a fixed supply like Bitcoin.

What Is Litecoin Used For?

Litecoin (LTC) has several use cases in the market, including:

Payment Network

Litecoin works as a cost-effective, fast, and highly secure way to transfer payments across borders in a decentralized, transparent, and cryptographically secure manner. Using LTC to enable digital payments with lower fees is one of the biggest drivers of this cryptocurrency’s adoption worldwide.

Store of Value

Litecoin is also considered an attractive store of value, much like rare commodities like gold and silver in the mainstream financial market. Often compared to silver while Bitcoin is compared to gold, LTC enjoys the status of a store of value among crypto investors due to its finite supply and low fees, although the Litecoin price remains well below that of Bitcoin owing to higher supply.

Crypto Asset to Trade and HODL

As one of the most widely accepted cryptocurrencies, Litecoin is an attractive instrument to invest in within the crypto industry as it is one of the oldest cryptocurrencies that are still around, like Bitcoin and Ethereum. You can buy or sell LTC against other cryptocurrencies on crypto exchanges or HODL Litecoin if you believe in its long term potential as an investment opportunity. Always ensure that you check the live Litecoin price, LTC current market cap, current circulating supply, 24 hour trading volume and news so you know the right time to enter the market.

Earn Passive Income

You can also grow your Litecoin holdings by lending liquidity in LTC on the KuCoin platform. Head to our Crypto Lending section and look for the Litecoin crypto from the list of options we offer.

Enter the number of LTC you wish to invest in, select the duration period from the options of 7 days, 14 days or 28 days. You will then get an estimate on the daily interest rate and profits you can earn by lending liquidity in Litecoin.

How Is Litecoin Different From Bitcoin?

Litecoin was created from a hard fork of the original Bitcoin source code. Here are the key differences between LTC and BTC:

Total Supply

Bitcoin - the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market cap, has a total supply or max supply of 21 million, which means there can be only 21 million BTC ever created. On the other hand, Litecoin enjoys a higher max supply, fixed at 84 million. However, the higher max supply results in Litecoin price being far lower than that of Bitcoin in the crypto market.

Block Size and Transaction Speed

Each block on the Litecoin network has a larger size and can store more data as a result, than each block in the Bitcoin network. This is the key reason why Litecoin enjoys a higher transaction speed than Bitcoin.

Mining Process

Litecoin uses Scrypt as its hashing algorithm which requires lesser computing power and resources for mining LTC. On the other hand, Bitcoin’s use of SHA-256 hashing algorithm makes its mining far more energy intensive and requires more complex mining equipment, which acts as a deterrent from a sustainability perspective.

How to Mine Litecoin (LTC)

Litecoin mining allows you to validate transactions taking place on the blockchain and record them in new blocks being added continuously to its network. In the process, new LTC digital currency is mined and added to the crypto’s circulating supply, a portion of which you can receive as block reward for your efforts.

Here’s how you can mine LTC:

Invest in Litecoin Mining Equipment

You will need special mining rigs in order to mine Litecoin, which are computers with higher processing power needed to solve complex mathematical problems while verifying transactions. ASICs (algorithm-specific integrated circuits) can support Litecoin’s Scrypt hashing algorithm.

While this may require considerable capital investment on your part, the advantage is that you can use the same hardware to also mine Dogecoin (DOGE).

Download Software to Mine Litecoin

Your next step to configure the recently acquired mining rig is to download the software which will let you connect to the Litecoin blockchain and start mining LTC. The basic software will let you mine LTC while more complex solutions can support multiple kinds of cryptocurrency mining.

Find and Join a Mining Pool

Mining pools help you combine computing resources and increase the chances of competing and winning the chance to validate Litecoin transactions. While joining a mining pool does slash your rewards in comparison with operating as an individual miner, it does increase the chances of being selected and earning rewards.

Enter Your Litecoin Wallet Address to Start

After configuring your mining rig and software, it’s time to set up your account and add the wallet address to which you can receive rewards for mining LTC. Get started with mining Litecoin and watch your holdings grow over time.

How to Add Litecoin to MetaMask

MetaMask only supports EVM-compatible blockchains and their tokens, and Litecoin is not an EVM-compatible network. While you cannot add Litecoin’s native token, LTC, to MetaMask as the wallet has no support for the blockchain yet, you can add a wrapped or pegged LTC token from supported blockchains to MetaMask.

Here’s how to add the Binance-Peg LTC token to your MetaMask wallet:

1. Set up your MetaMask wallet if you don’t already have an account.

2. Change your network from the default option of Ethereum mainnet to Binance smart chain.

3. Scroll down to the Import tokens option.

4. Copy the contract address for the Binance-Pegged Litecoin token: ​​0x4338665cbb7b2485a8855a139b75d5e34ab0db94.

5. Enter LTC as the Token Symbol, click Add Custom Token, and then confirm by clicking Import Token on the next page.

6. Verify that LTC has been added by checking supported assets in your MetaMask wallet’s Binance smart chain Assets section.

Live Litecoin (LTC) Summary

$ 1.11
$ 412.96
The current price of Litecoin is 77.29 $. Its 24-hour trading volume is 19.15M $. The price of Litecoin dropped by -13.05% over the past 24 hours and dropped by -19.53% over the past week. We will continue to update the price of LTC-USDT in real time. This coin ranks #10 in market capitalization, with a current market cap of 5.68B $.
  • The circulating supply of LTC is 69,960,820.
  • The maximum supply of LTC is 84,000,000.
  • The all-time high of LTC was 412.96 $ on 05-09, 2021, from which the coin is now down -81.28%.
  • The all-time low of LTC was 1.11 $, from which the coin is now up 98.56%.