Don't hate me too much, but I think litecoin is superior to bitcoin

memvola

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Quote from: Ben Thomas Clayton on May 13, 2013, 11:47:48 AM

Here is some interesting questions that needs an answer!

These questions are answered in any "How Bitcoin works" type of article.

I would try to respond item by item here, but the way they are asked betrays some ignorance about how the system works in general. So I would suggest reading about Bitcoin first, and then asking the parts which you don't understand or don't agree.

The "odds" could be considered an interesting question, but I don't understand what the asker meant. The PoW done on Bitcoin is immense, and none of the alternative currencies can really approach the low probabilities Bitcoin has. This won't produce interesting numbers for you. If the asker is in fact interested about potential differences in hypothetical cases, then s/he needs to clarify.

Ben Thomas Clayton

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Here is some interesting questions that needs an answer!

Quote from: JoelKatz on April 19, 2013, 05:45:15 AM

Quote from: jasonjm on April 19, 2013, 04:59:41 AM

yes confirmation time

what are the odds of a transaction being reversed in bitcoin or litecoin?

lets say you accept a transaction from someone with zero confirmations, but you can see the transaction....

what can go wrong at this point?

can a transaction be faked? ie I am guessing you really do need to wait for one confirmation at least?

what are the odds of someone being able to fake a transaction that somehow manages to get one confirmation?

In other words, you have no idea what the risks are or what it takes for a transaction to be reasonably considered irreversible, yet you have the opinion that Litecoin does this faster than Bitcoin, specifically "much much faster". Does that sum things up? An uninformed opinion is not of very much value.

So far, the only person who's noticed this is a rude bugger who, in lack of a better mentality, didn't realize that these were new questions to enlighten things, so (s)he used them questions only to insult the one asking them...

peacefulmind

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We will see soon as massive GPU power is re-directed away from BTC to LTC.

Hashrate has gone as high as 15,000,000Mh/s last night for LTC. That is HUGE for scrypt.

solex

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100 satoshis -> ISO code

Quote from: Mike Hearn on April 19, 2013, 05:19:02 AM

Let's say it takes 1 minute for a block to globally propagate. This is sort of similar to how quickly BGP propagates and the BGP mesh is a comparable very large broadcast network. So now you waste 10% of all your work due to chain splits. With a 2.5 minute interval you're wasting nearly half your total work!

I think Mike has hit the nail on the head. What appears to be a strength of Litecoin is probably a major weakness. The 2.5min block time cripples its scalability by trying to solve a problem which doesn't really affect most merchants (waiting too long for confirmations).

peacefulmind

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Quote from: Transisto on April 21, 2013, 10:44:40 PM

Having an infrastructure for exchanging between LTC and BTC is enough for it to thrive as an hedging tool for bitcoins. For the same reason people withdraw just enough USD from BTC , someone can hold just enough BTC for it's online expenses. That doesn't make use of LTC shorter confirmation but I think sCrypt is the most important feature of Litecoin.

Assuming Gox can get their act together and make good on promises RE: LTC then you are correct. So much is riding on Gox carrying USD/LTC and BTC/LTC.

If it does LTC is eventually off to the races!

You will be correct that a hedging instrument is enough of a value proposition. In many ways it already is.

I still think BTC will retain a preium for some time, but I feel as years pass the premium will diminish as people experience that LTC can be used just like BTC.

Transisto

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Quote from: peacefulmind on April 21, 2013, 10:22:11 PM

A lot of people are waking up to the idea that for many reasons - Litecoin may be superior to Bitcoin on technical merits.

However - there needs to be Litecoin infrastructure built.

Some people may say that Natural Gas (CNG) powered cars are better and less polluting than gasoline/oil powered cars.

However Bitcoin(oil) has a headstart in infrastructure build out over Litecoin(CNG) we may very well end up with Bitcoin winning not because it was better but because it was first.

Though - that does not mean Litecoin is worthless - if you follow my energy analogy - crude oil trades for about $90 a barrel, natural gas still trades for $4/MCF.

Litecoin does have an opportunity coming - if in the next few months it can build infrastructure and leverage its larger more diversified miners, and the wider distribution of Litecoin holdings in the long run Litecoin could in fact overtake Bitcoin.

I however expect that the Gold/Silver analogy will remain a good one, and while Bitcoin may reach $1,000/BTC one day I think it is completely possible that LTC reaches at least 10% of that value.

Just my .02 LTC. Wink

from experience in the energy industry where we DO NOT use what is BEST.

Having an infrastructure for exchanging between LTC and BTC is enough for it to thrive as an hedging tool for bitcoins. For the same reason people withdraw just enough USD from BTC , someone can hold just enough BTC for it's online expenses. That doesn't make use of LTC shorter confirmation but I think sCrypt is the most important feature of Litecoin.

peacefulmind

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A lot of people are waking up to the idea that for many reasons - Litecoin may be superior to Bitcoin on technical merits.

However - there needs to be Litecoin infrastructure built.

Some people may say that Natural Gas (CNG) powered cars are better and less polluting than gasoline/oil powered cars.

However Bitcoin(oil) has a headstart in infrastructure build out over Litecoin(CNG) we may very well end up with Bitcoin winning not because it was better but because it was first.

Though - that does not mean Litecoin is worthless - if you follow my energy analogy - crude oil trades for about $90 a barrel, natural gas still trades for $4/MCF.

Litecoin does have an opportunity coming - if in the next few months it can build infrastructure and leverage its larger more diversified miners, and the wider distribution of Litecoin holdings in the long run Litecoin could in fact overtake Bitcoin.

I however expect that the Gold/Silver analogy will remain a good one, and while Bitcoin may reach $1,000/BTC one day I think it is completely possible that LTC reaches at least 10% of that value.

Just my .02 LTC. Wink

from experience in the energy industry where we DO NOT use what is BEST.

bitcoiners

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Quote from: ImI on April 21, 2013, 09:54:24 PM

So assuming LTC is superior to BTC there is no guarantee that this manifests itself in a bigger piece of the cake.

Really? No kidding?

To me it only makes sense to have two main crypto-currencies. With the new FinCEN statement I don't want to trade my BTC to usd or my LTC to usd. I'd rather trade them back and forth between BTC/LTC to avoid capital gains taxes. It is the solution to their ruling and makes sense to anyone that doesn't have their head in their ass or wants to be raped by Uncle Sam.

Edit: BTW, I don't think either BTC or LTC are superior to each other. I think they both have their place and compliment each other well. They both need each other now with regulations being put on them. It's time to wake up people.

ImI

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Nevertheless one important point is that not always the superior system/concept is winning the biggest marketshare or audience at all.

So assuming LTC is superior to BTC there is no guarantee that this manifests itself in a bigger piece of the cake.

JoelKatz

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Democracy is vulnerable to a 51% attack.

Quote from: ?? on ??

Wasn't QWERTY originally created to slow down typing speed, though? That's what I heard, although it could be wrong.

Of course not. Think about it -- for what possible reason would you want to slow down typing speed? In fact, it was created to speed up typing speed by keeping the hammers on old typewriters from hitting each other when you typed quickly. By pure luck, that also distributed the load over your fingers and avoids having to use the same finger twice in a row to hit different keys.

JoelKatz

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Democracy is vulnerable to a 51% attack.

Quote from: ?? on ??

Dvorak isn't? Citation needed.

The only studies that showed Dvorak was better were done by ... wait for it ... Dvorak himself. (Or done by others but rigged by Dvorak.)

http://www.jaysage.org/QWERTY.htm

JoelKatz

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Democracy is vulnerable to a 51% attack.

Quote from: foggyb on April 19, 2013, 10:24:31 AM

Betamax was technically superior to VHS.

That's a myth, just like "Dvorak is superior to QWERTY".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2003/jan/25/comment.comment
http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2009/07/the-dirty-backstabbing-mess-called-betamax-vs-vhs/

JoelKatz

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Democracy is vulnerable to a 51% attack.

Quote from: kokjo on April 19, 2013, 09:37:00 AM

his change proposes to change the protocol. removal of the 1MB limit could look like that there was no need for +1MB block before the first one, and that the limit had never been there.

Right, but the same is true of any change. Say the change introduces some new block format entirely -- any change at all in that new format. The old format would still be valid providing it's either the genesis block or a block whose previous block is also in old format. Now, it again looks like there was no need for the new format until the first new format block, after which no old format blocks can ever be added.

foggyb

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Quote from: jasonjm on April 19, 2013, 04:28:55 AM

I am new to the whole scene, been using both for a few months now.

Why i think litecoin is better - in order of importance, and all in my opinion:

comments?

Betamax was technically superior to VHS.

John (John K.)

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Away on an extended break

I prefer FC. It's 4 times moar - so it's LTC 2.0. Wink

wizzardTim

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Reality is stranger than fiction

I also like LTC a lot better from the BTC slug.

kokjo

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You are WRONG!

Quote from: CoinHoarder on April 19, 2013, 09:45:28 AM

You know the bitcoiners are scared when more and more of them every day are making their way over to ALT territory to beat their chests and proclaim Bitcoin as the top dog.

Every dog has his day.

LOOOOOL!!!!!

CoinHoarder

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In Cryptocoins I Trust

You know the bitcoiners are scared when more and more of them every day are making their way over to ALT territory to beat their chests and proclaim Bitcoin as the top dog.

Every dog has his day.

kokjo

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You are WRONG!

Quote from: JoelKatz on April 19, 2013, 07:41:11 AM

Quote from: kokjo on April 19, 2013, 07:06:11 AM

Quote from: amincd on April 19, 2013, 07:04:19 AM

By that logic, removing the 1 MB max block size, which is going to happen and was advocated by Nakamoto, would make it something other than bitcoin.

by removing the 1MB limit you are not messing up all the old blocks. huge difference.

Almost any change can be done without messing up old blocks. In fact, I can't easily imagine one that couldn't be done that way.

his change proposes to change the protocol. removal of the 1MB limit could look like that there was no need for +1MB block before the first one, and that the limit had never been there.

mr_random

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Quote from: JoelKatz on April 19, 2013, 07:41:11 AM

Quote from: kokjo on April 19, 2013, 07:06:11 AM

Quote from: amincd on April 19, 2013, 07:04:19 AM

By that logic, removing the 1 MB max block size, which is going to happen and was advocated by Nakamoto, would make it something other than bitcoin.

by removing the 1MB limit you are not messing up all the old blocks. huge difference.

Almost any change can be done without messing up old blocks. In fact, I can't easily imagine one that couldn't be done that way.

The more widely adopted a coin is though the more resistance the devs will face to changes which aren't mission critical.

Topic: Don't hate me too much, but I think litecoin is superior to bitcoin (Read 3417 times)