Categories: Featured

Sticking to the Scrypt: The History of Litecoin in 500 Words

Since its beginning, Litecoin has been rooted in the democratization of mining. It found its inspiration in several other altcoins that claimed to do the same thing back in 2011. Litecoin is a copy cat of the Bitcoin protocol, and it boasts one of the more successful and friendly cryptocurrency communities out there.

Litecoin grew from the early technical passions of Google software engineer Charlie Lee, who became involved in the crypto space in 2011. His first coin, Fairbrix, was modeled after the heavily premined coin Tenebrix crafted by anonymous coder Artfortz.

Tenebrix was a GPU and ASIC resistant coin featuring the Scrypt (pronounced “ess-crypt”) algorithm. It was designed to run exclusively on CPUs, added a block every five minutes, and gained a small following. But many complained that the anonymous founder had premined and stashed away 7 million coins.

To counter this, Lee created a new coin or ledger system named Fairbrix in September of 2011. Like Tenebrix, Fairbrix added a block every five minutes using the Scrypt proof of work algorithm.

Although Fairbrix only had one hundred premined coins, an issue arose when a bug in the coin’s client Multicoin prohibited the creation of new coins. This, along with a majority attack on the coin from its genesis, caused the Fairbrix launch to fail.

Still convinced that he could produce a coin that was true to the original vision and early implementation of Bitcoin, Charlie Lee took the work he’d done with Fairbrix and applied it to a new client.

Related Post

Lee copied much of what had worked with Fairbrix’s launch and then copied solutions from Bitcoin’s code to cover for Fairbrix’s mistakes. The new blockchain featured two-and-a-half minute blocks. Maintaining the Scrypt algorithm, it scheduled a halving for every 2,016 blocks with an 84 million block cap. Technically speaking, Litecoin is the brainchild of both Charlie Lee and Satoshi Nakamoto.

Litecoin was originally released as a Bitcoin fork on October 7th, 2011 and was implemented nearly a week later on October 13th. Litecoin’s growth was steady until it saw a spurt in November 2013 which subsequently died down.

In May of 2017, Litecoin became the first of the largest five cryptocurrencies to implement Segregated Witness. Consequently, LTC’s value skyrocketed on its new exchange Coinbase, perhaps foreshadowing things to come with Bitcoin.

Litecoin would also complete the first Lightning Network transaction in May. This transaction of one photon (.00000001 LTC) was completed in under one second. More recently, Litecoin completed the first atomic swap to Decred, and has since performed swaps with Vertcoin and Bitcoin.

Although it is sometimes passed over by investors looking for faster growth in coins with more popular features, Litecoin is often deemed a relatively “stable” coin with a positive community, and has been coined the silver to Bitcoin’s gold. And although it has a public, central creator in Charlie Lee, its founder seems dedicated to the growth of the coin while encouraging other smaller crypto communities.

Gabrielo Myrone Banks

A writer at heart, Gabrielo was introduced to the world of Bitcoin through poker. After reading on the origin and philosophy of Bitcoin, he's fervent to explore the new world the blockchain and its culture affords.

Share
Published by
Gabrielo Myrone Banks
Tags: litecoin

Recent Posts

Last Chance Alert: Join the Best Crypto Presale Now for Top 7 Trending Cryptos

Imagine securing a stake in the next big cryptocurrency before it skyrockets. A chance investors…

10 mins ago

Remittix (RTX) Set To Surpass Ripple (XRP) In 2025 With The Dawn Of PayFi—5000% Rally Expected

Ripple (XRP) has certainly been around the crypto market long enough for anyone to have…

15 mins ago

What Are the Top Decentralized Crypto Wallets for This Year?

Master Your Crypto Portfolio: Leading Decentralized Wallets for Maximum Control & Earnings in 2025 With…

31 mins ago

Lethal Bearish Attack Heavily Dumps WIF & SHIB Prices; DTX Exchange Accumulation Soars

The crypto market is typical of sudden changes in fortune and price drops. That has…

1 hour ago

Best Altcoins to Invest in Today: Qubetics Sets the Stage for Blockchain’s Future as Bitcoin Hits $108K and Litecoin Soars

The cryptocurrency world has always been a hotbed of innovation, attracting both seasoned investors and…

13 hours ago

Dogecoin Millionaire Predicts This Undervalued Altcoin Could Match DOGE’s 2021 Gains

Dogecoin's 2021 rally was a historic one, turning ordinary investors into overnight millionaires. This magnificent…

13 hours ago