Why do we need Bitcoin if we have Litecoin? - page 2.

nc50lc

legendary

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Self-proclaimed Genius

Quote from: limentei on April 12, 2020, 05:30:16 PM

After all, litecoinis a fork of bitcoin, which means it is an improved version of it.

That sounds like from a person who's brainwashed by "someone" who said: "this 'forked coin' is an upgrade".

For the record, being a fork of another repository doesn't mean it's an improved version (fork-a-repo).
It's basically a copy of the original with different future developments and alterations.

pooya87

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Quote from: spike420211 on April 12, 2020, 06:05:20 PM

Litecoin uses a scrypt encryption method while bitcoin SHA-256. In view of this, mining LTC is cheaper and more affordable.
In addition, it is possible to use the CPU for mining, although it will be almost not effective.[/li][/list]

scrypt is not an encryption method, it is a key derivation function and it is used as a hashing algorithm similar to SHA256 in litecoin.
as for mining, just like bitcoin you need ASICs to mine LTC but different types of ASICs designed to compute scrypt's result.

Quote

Faster transaction confirmation time.
In the LTC network, the block is on average every 2.5 minutes, which is much faster than the BTC ~ 10 minutes.
However, a 51% attack in the LTC network is significantly cheaper than in the BTC network.

susceptibility to 51% attack is due to lower LTC hashrate. the problem that comes from faster blocks is
1. bigger blockchain even with a lot less usage
2. more orphan rate which requires merchants to seek higher number of confirmation that nullifies the "it is faster than bitcoin" statement.
3. a lot more work by nodes to upload/download and verify blocks per day.

mk4

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Paldo.io 🤖

Litecoin is pretty much the testing grounds or a "lab rat" for Bitcoin; which mean Litecoin will of course, mostly going to be first with implementations. One notable example being SegWit. But that doesn't necessarily mean it's an "improved" version. Heck Litecoin has been having lack of development since last year, which has been openly admitted by Charlie Lee: https://www.reddit.com/r/litecoin/comments/co6y9g/ltc_foundation_chat_leaked_no_evidence_of/

spike420211

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You are right that Litecoin is a fork of Bitcoin, the second fork, to be precise, the first was namecoin.
However the creator of the LTC says that the goal was to study blockchain technology and not a trivial copying of Bitcoin.

In addition, there are a number of significant differences that are expressed in the following:

Different security algorithms.
Litecoin uses a scrypt encryption method while bitcoin SHA-256. In view of this, mining LTC is cheaper and more affordable.
In addition, it is possible to use the CPU for mining, although it will be almost not effective.
Faster transaction confirmation time.
In the LTC network, the block is on average every 2.5 minutes, which is much faster than the BTC ~ 10 minutes.
However, a 51% attack in the LTC network is significantly cheaper than in the BTC network.
The difficulty in the LTC network changes more often,
The difficulty changes every 2016 blocks as in the BTC network, however, due to the fact that the blocks are 4 times more frequent, this speeds up the change.
Which leads to its change difficulty approximately every 3.5 days.
LTC has a maximum number of coins 4 times larger than Bitcoin
84,000,000.

What do we have in the end?
LTC is an excellent alternative cryptocurrency asset with a number of advantages, but it also has the disadvantages of its blockchain.

lucasholder

jr. member

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First, forking doesn't necessarily means improving. Literally anyone with a basic knowledge of how to use a computer can fork Bitcoin.

Second, an alternative currency would have to improve very substantially over Bitcoin to overtake it. A small incremental improvement would not be enough to overtake Bitcoin, there is just too much inertia and work involved. Perhaps a very major improvement could but even then, the Bitcoin community might just adopt the technology and apply it to Bitcoin without adopting the alternative currency.

Litecoin only had a very minor change compared to Bitcoin (the proof-of-work algorithm) and it's not a change that makes it strictly better, the change is really more akin to a trade off rather than a strict improvement. And that's why it never overtook Bitcoin.

limentei

newbie

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What is the difference between one and the other? After all, litecoinis a fork of bitcoin, which means it is an improved version of it.

Topic: Why do we need Bitcoin if we have Litecoin? - page 2. (Read 452 times)