When a fan, Crypto Hodler asked, ‘How did you come up with the name Litecoin?’, the computer scientist replied:
“Wanted a name that represented a quicker and easier to use Bitcoin. Thought of Litecoin and Lightcoin. Didn’t like light as much because it could also mean light in light bulb. And lite is kind of like elite. Com/org/net domains were all available. The rest is history.”
Litecoin was created with the purpose of being ‘silver’ to Bitcoin’s ‘gold’. The two coins share stark technological differences. The coin limit of Bitcoin is 21 million, while for Litecoin, it is 84 million. The algorithm that Bitcoin uses is called SHA256, and the one used by Litecoin is called Scrypt. The mean block time for Bitcoin is 10 minutes while it is just 2.5 minutes for Litecoin. The inception of Bitcoin took place in the year 2009. Litecoin followed it into existence in 2011