These two have been called the "Gold" and "Silver" of cryptocurrencies. Neither was pre-mined. Neither has a central authority. They are both transparent.
Table: Comparison of Bitcoin and Litecoin characteristics
| Bitcoin | Litecoin | |
|---|---|---|
| Coin limit | 21 Million | 84 Million |
| Algorithm | SHA256 | Scrypt |
| Mean Block Time | 10 minutes | 2.5 minutes |
| Difficulty Retarget | 2016 blocks | 2016 blocks |
| Block Reward Details | Halved every 210,000 blocks | Halved every 840,000 blocks |
| Initial Reward | 50 BTC | 50 LTC |
| Current Block Reward | 12.5 BTC | 25 LTC |
| Block Size | 1MB | 2MB |
| SegWit | No | Adopted |
| Block Explorer | blockchain.info | blockcypher.com |
| Creator | Satoshi Nakamoto | Charlie Lee |
| Inception Date | January 3, 2009 | October 7, 2011 |
| Market Cap | 42,043,683,247 USD | $2,608,139,774 |
Litecoin is basically a copy of Bitcoin with a few minor changes, such as block time. The table above highlights some of their essentials for quick viewing.
Donations:
BTC: 13kESuktH68C9Ue9xGiiiJJRj35JAkmTv3
LTC: MVR4njQwGMzQmaPedHxe3cg6NTcrN7EhXm