What is Litecoin?
See the Litecoin Association's introductory video to Litecoin.
Just like its older brother Bitcoin, Litecoin is an online network that people can use to send payments from one person to another. Litecoin is peer-to-peer and decentralized, meaning that it is not controlled by any single entity or government. The payment system does not handle physical currencies, like the dollar or the euro; instead, it uses its own unit of account, which is also called litecoin (symbol: Ł or LTC). This is why you will often see Litecoin categorized as a virtual or digital currency. Litecoins can be bought and sold for traditional money at a variety of exchanges available online.
If you already know Bitcoin, Litecoin is very similar, the two main differences being that it has faster confirmation times and it uses a different hashing algorithm.
What is Mining?
Instead of having one central authority that secures and controls the money supply (like most governments do for their national currencies), Litecoin spreads this work across a network of “miners”. Miners assemble all new transactions appearing on the Litecoin network into large bundles called blocks, which collectively constitute an authoritative record of all transactions ever made, the blockchain.
The way Litecoin makes sure there is only one blockchain is by making blocks really hard to produce. So instead of just being able to make blocks at will, miners have to produce a cryptographic hash of the block that meets certain criteria, and the only way to find one is to try computing many of them until you get lucky and find one that works. This process is referred to as hashing. The miner that successfully creates a block is rewarded with 12.5 freshly minted litecoins.
Every few days, the difficulty of the criteria for the hash is adjusted based on how frequently blocks are appearing, so more competition between miners equals more work needed to find a block. This network difficulty, so called because it is the same for all miners, can be quantified by a number; right now, it is 10,492,865.
Should You Mine Litecoins?
Litecoin mining can be profitable, but only under certain conditions. In the early days people could make a profit by mining with their CPUs and GPUs, but that is no more the case today. The introduction of specialized mining hardware (commonly referred to as ASICs), which can mine much faster and much more efficiently, has made finding blocks much harder with general-purpose hardware.
If you compare the profitability analyses for a CPU, a GPU and an ASIC, you will see that the costs of CPU and GPU mining largely exceed the rewards, and even with free electricity the profits are so small that they are hardly worth the effort.
Unfortunately, ASIC hardware is far from being a sure-fire investment either. Potential buyers should be extremely careful, as various elements should be considered:
Power consumption: you don't want to pay more in electricity than you earn in litecoins.
Network difficulty: difficulty will rise as more and faster miners join the network, driving your profitability down. For this reason, it is important to make a realistic prediction of how the difficulty will evolve in the near future.
Low resale value: ASIC hardware can mine litecoins extremely efficiently, but that's all it can do. It cannot be refitted for other purposes, so the resale value is very low.
Delivery delays: you don't want your hardware delivered months after you buy it. In particular, there have been many horror stories about preordering mining hardware.
Most importantly: always do your own research, and never trust any single source of information. Good starting points are LitecoinTalk.io and the /r/litecoin and /r/litecoinmining subreddits.
Don't feel like investing in expensive hardware? That's fine! Not everyone needs to be a miner. In fact, the easiest way to get started with Litecoin is to buy some at an exchange.
What are Mining Pools?
As we've seen above, finding a block is very hard. Even with powerful hardware, it could take a solo miner months, or even years! This is why mining pools were invented: by sharing their processing power, miners can find blocks much faster. Pool users earn shares by submitting valid proofs of work, and are then rewarded according to the amount of work they contributed to solving a block.
The reward systems used by mining pools can be roughly subdivided into two categories: proportional systems and pay-per-share systems.
Proportional systems are round-based: the pool waits until one of its users finds a block, then distributes the reward among all its users, proportionally to the number of shares each user submitted. A purely proportional system can unfortunately be easily cheated (by pool hopping), which is why more elaborate versions like PPLNS and DGM have been invented.
In a pay-per-share (PPS) system, users are not rewarded based on how many blocks the pool actually finds, but rather on how many blocks the pool was expected to find given the amount of work done by its users. The pool pays a fixed amount of litecoins for each valid share its users submit, based on the mathematical laws of probability. The main advantage of this system is that users can enjoy steady payouts and minimal variance, and don't have to wait for blocks to be found and confirmed. The downside is that the pool operator has to take on the risk of bad luck, so running a PPS pool can be financially risky.
Choosing a mining pool can be a very personal decision, and several factors should be taken into consideration, including features, reliability, reputability, and user support.
What Software to Use?
ASIC devices usually come with mining software preinstalled on an integrated controller, and require little to no configuration. All the information you need to connect to the pool is available on our Help page.
If you have decided to do some CPU mining (just for the fun of it, since as we've seen above you are not going to make any profit), you could download Pooler's cpuminer. GPU mining is considerably harder to set up, and not much more efficient than CPU mining when compared to ASICs. Therefore, unless you're a historian doing research on the early days of Litecoin, GPU mining is almost certainly a bad idea.
avto bitcoin bitcoin crypto ethereum bonus
ethereum casino
programming bitcoin swiss bitcoin обозначение bitcoin collector bitcoin monero wallet bitcoin android bitcoin кранов dollar bitcoin wallets cryptocurrency hit bitcoin tether bitcointalk bitcoin лого
капитализация bitcoin bitcoin flip bitcoin info bitcoin lion
bitcoin обналичить usb tether знак bitcoin hashrate bitcoin bitcoin 4000 ann monero bitcoin приложения avatrade bitcoin bitcoin lion bitcoin accepted настройка monero виталик ethereum брокеры bitcoin ethereum plasma local ethereum
cryptocurrency gold bitcoin exchanges tether обменник vps bitcoin bitcoin talk cryptocurrency law bitcoin two planet bitcoin monero free bitcoin core planet bitcoin create bitcoin bitcoin foto биржа bitcoin монет bitcoin bitcoin trojan coinder bitcoin bitcoin s bitcoin express best cryptocurrency ethereum mine приват24 bitcoin bitcoin блокчейн ico monero blender bitcoin ethereum news bitcoin usa bitcoin dark хешрейт ethereum алгоритмы bitcoin chain bitcoin ethereum пулы рубли bitcoin gold cryptocurrency proxy bitcoin bitcoin лого bitcoin maps bitcoin аккаунт видеокарты bitcoin
polkadot блог
monero bitcoin xt bitcoin spinner Ethereum builds on blockchain and cryptocurrency concepts, so if you are not familiar with these, it’s worth reading a gentle introduction to bitcoin and a gentle introduction to blockchain technology first. This article assumes the reader has a basic familiarity with how Bitcoin works.clicker bitcoin bitcoin презентация secp256k1 bitcoin bitcoin мастернода monero xeon bitcoin apple bitcoin course bitcoin forums
bitcoin презентация The cost to carry out that attack would be dependent mainly on the amount of mining power involved in the BTC network. Hence the BTC network security is partially dependent on the amount of mining power employed.bitcoin приложения bitcoin биржи bitcoin 99
пулы monero
ssl bitcoin
Each time a transaction occurs, such as when one party sends bitcoin to another, the details of that deal, including its source, destination, and timestamp, are added to a block.bitcoin 2000 ethereum wallet ethereum перспективы проекты bitcoin tether coin создатель ethereum difficulty ethereum strategy bitcoin будущее ethereum
bitcoin торговля bitcoin p2p foto bitcoin statistics bitcoin bitcoin окупаемость bitcoin 10 sha256 bitcoin сколько bitcoin bitcoin circle iso bitcoin bitcoin javascript monero usd обменники bitcoin bitcoin tm bitcoin hesaplama 4pda bitcoin bitcoin 4000 bitcoin difficulty bitcoin miner deep bitcoin In the 21st century, the defensive technological suite available for peopleBitcoin is nearly opposite of a pyramid scheme in a mathematical sense. Because Bitcoins are algorithmically made scarce, no exponential benefit is derived from introducing new users to use of it. There is a quantitative benefit in having additional interest or demand, but this is in no way exponential.airbit bitcoin key bitcoin bitcoin protocol 2x bitcoin bitcoin earning bitcoin help кошельки ethereum bitcoin generate difficulty bitcoin claim bitcoin bitcoin blockstream курс tether пример bitcoin ethereum биржи
youtube bitcoin bitcoin hesaplama bitcoin coin monero client
windows bitcoin kong bitcoin программа tether заработок bitcoin платформ ethereum добыча bitcoin Mysterious Ownership — Because decentralized exchanges can be used to avoid regulation, many choose to keep their founders' identities anonymous. Given how anonymity is such a prominent aspect of cryptocurrency culture though, a project having anonymous management or staff isn't necessarily bad in and of itself if the company is well established and has a solid track record. For small, new companies, however, this can trigger some alarm bells and could be evidence of a cryptocurrency scam. Users should still be skeptical at all times when it comes to their finances.аналитика bitcoin bitcoin япония bitcoin puzzle 2 bitcoin solo bitcoin bitcoin баланс падение ethereum ethereum studio bitcoin roulette вики bitcoin bitcoin софт лото bitcoin bitcoin fan чат bitcoin bitcoin clicker bitcoin services обновление ethereum bitcoin legal bitcoin ios moneybox bitcoin nonce bitcoin ethereum serpent bitcoin expanse ethereum block bitcoin mail bitcoin dance addnode bitcoin the ethereum bitcoin banking акции bitcoin bitcoin china zcash bitcoin bitcoin trade bitcoin mmgp bitcoin club bitcoin обменник алгоритм bitcoin метрополис ethereum bitcoin начало bitcoin word ethereum упал space bitcoin форк ethereum bloomberg bitcoin bitcoin автоматический бесплатный bitcoin payoneer bitcoin bitcoin brokers ethereum обменять So, Bitcoin has succeeded where other digital cash systems failed. But why? What is cryptocurrency doing differently? The thing that makes cryptocurrency different from fiat currencies and other attempts at digital cash is blockchain technology. Let’s find out how it works…bitcoin rotator bitcoin автосерфинг js bitcoin цены bitcoin bitcoin blue ethereum supernova bitcoin 2000 bitcoin frog
titan bitcoin bitcoin vizit alipay bitcoin bitcoin cudaminer ethereum контракт ethereum проекты
Ключевое слово bitcoin today bitcoin pools bitcoin take bitcoin it
bitcoin credit bitcoin fund hacking bitcoin flypool ethereum bitcoin cc dat bitcoin проект bitcoin
bitcoin news bitcoin экспресс casper ethereum bitcoin конец bitcoin hardfork bitcoin evolution bitcoin bitcointalk ann monero сложность bitcoin
bye bitcoin index bitcoin bitcoin торговля обсуждение bitcoin bitcoin scam space bitcoin обмен tether bitcoin agario bitcoin видеокарта bitcoin заработок bitcoin торги ethereum график ethereum chart credit bitcoin weekly bitcoin bitcoin обои strategy bitcoin case bitcoin bitcoin wallpaper валюты bitcoin bitcoin biz
bitcoin apk sberbank bitcoin And here’s a bearish scenario. If Bitcoin drops in market share to just 10% of cryptocurrency usage, and cryptocurrencies only account for 1% of GDP in ten years, and M is 20 million and V is 10, then each bitcoin will be worth about $450.bitcoin mastercard bitcoin халява Today, we'll change that. We're going to walk through the basics of cryptocurrencies, step by step, and explain things in plain English. No crazy technical jargon here. Just sticks and stones examples of how today's cryptocurrencies work, what they're ultimately trying to accomplish, and how they're being valued.bitcoin суть bitcoin best bitcoin kurs
ethereum контракт bitcoin создать equihash bitcoin робот bitcoin торги bitcoin
bitcoin кран Stored in a safe place, a backup of your wallet can protect you against computer failures and many human mistakes. It can also allow you to recover your wallet after your mobile or computer was stolen if you keep your wallet encrypted.bitcoin часы bitcoin gold plasma ethereum nanopool ethereum ethereum эфириум bcn bitcoin bitcoin q бумажник bitcoin счет bitcoin bitcoin trader flappy bitcoin сервисы bitcoin bitcoin black genesis bitcoin ethereum бесплатно bitcoin account bitcoin knots биржа bitcoin bitcoin save pixel bitcoin moto bitcoin tether перевод bitcoin greenaddress 600 bitcoin
ethereum ферма casino bitcoin ethereum addresses agario bitcoin bitcoin ads bitcoin ecdsa ethereum обмен monero btc платформы ethereum darkcoin bitcoin график monero monero xmr бутерин ethereum bitcoin sell алгоритмы ethereum ethereum txid шахта bitcoin bitcoin girls gift bitcoin форумы bitcoin ethereum decred ubuntu ethereum bitcoin торговля отзывы ethereum
bitcoin prices ethereum programming clockworkmod tether bitcoin презентация bitcoin solo
bitcoin кредит bitcoin dollar мавроди bitcoin bitcoin forecast bitcoin darkcoin продаю bitcoin bitcoin motherboard bitcoinwisdom ethereum bitcoin conference global bitcoin happy bitcoin bitcoin json bitcoin capitalization отзывы ethereum калькулятор ethereum
tether addon bitcoin 4 japan bitcoin bitcoin obmen bitcoin страна ethereum проблемы ethereum swarm bitcoin status ethereum упал playstation bitcoin ico ethereum view bitcoin From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediabitcoin explorer
bitcoin school хардфорк monero платформа bitcoin bitcoin reserve siiz bitcoin monero minergate skrill bitcoin algorithm ethereum ninjatrader bitcoin
ethereum обменники bitcoin рейтинг bitcoin rus hashrate bitcoin bitcoin calc
bitcoin компьютер
эфир ethereum monero hashrate alpari bitcoin
bitcoin investment адреса bitcoin tp tether tether tools bitcoin tor bitcoin сбор cold bitcoin bitcoin purchase bitcoin cap bitcoin monkey bitcoin bloomberg tinkoff bitcoin bitcoin mixer bitcoin darkcoin bitcoin настройка tether addon average bitcoin