In Litecoin’s eight-year history, it has evolved from an unknown altcoin to one of the top five cryptocurrencies traded around the world, driven by an ecosystem of developers, thinkers, and entrepreneurs excited by the possibility of creating a new global standard for payments.
A former Googler and ex-Director of Engineering at Coinbase, Charlie Lee first developed Litecoin as a side project in 2011 experimenting with Bitcoin’s codebase. His main goal was to create and launch a fair altcoin that didn’t have a premine, paving the way for a digital currency that people could use like cash.
The way Lee saw it, Litecoin would be “silver to Bitcoin’s gold.” While Bitcoin was good for moving large amounts of money, it charged the same fee for a large transaction as it did for a small transaction. Lee intended for people to use Litecoin to move smaller amounts of money for lower fees.
Lee built Litecoin on the same codebase as Bitcoin, but with changes to make it faster and cheaper. With smaller block sizes, Litecoin was able to process transactions in 2.5 minutes, compared to 10–30 minutes for Bitcoin. Transactions on Litecoin cost pennies — not dollars.
While Bitcoin is notoriously slow to upgrade and improve the underlying protocol, Litecoin is much faster to develop and implement new innovations. That’s led some to call Litecoin a “testnet” for Bitcoin — for instance, Litecoin implemented Segregated Witness into the protocol in May 2017, months ahead of Bitcoin. Litecoin has experimented with and implemented cutting-edge technology well ahead of Bitcoin, from atomic swaps to side chains.
In this article, we curate the essential people, miners, wallets, and more to help you keep track of the ecosystem developing around Litecoin.
📖 Table of Contents
👩💻 People: Follow the people who are building Litecoin, ensuring it’s on the bleeding edge of crypto experimentation. Learn more about the companies they’re building to support its growth and keep the currency relevant.🗞 News: We’ve provided a list of the best Litecoin-specific and general cryptocurrency news outlets to keep track of everything from new innovations in Litecoin to daily price trends.⛏ Miners: If you’re looking to mine Litecoin, you’re going to want to be part of a pool. We’ve included information on the major mining pools that boast over 75% of the total hash rate share.👜 Wallets: Whether you prefer online wallets, hardware wallets, or paper wallets, we’ve provided a list of the best places to keep your Litecoin secure.⛪ Communities: If you’re interested in Litecoin, connect with a vibrant group of like-minded developers, builders, and commentators that you can talk to. We’ve included links to some of the most vibrant Litecoin communities.
👩💻 People
Founders/Directors
- Charlie Lee is the creator of Litecoin and Managing Director of the Litecoin Foundation, a Singapore-based nonprofit that supports the Litecoin ecosystem. He launched Litecoin in 2011 as a way to improve on Bitcoin and make a more usable cryptocurrency. He continues to remain engaged as a leader of the project.
- Xinxi Wang is the Founder and Director of the Litecoin Foundation. Based in Singapore, he developed the Litecoin core, which is the repository of the open-source code for the cryptocurrency. He’s also Founder and CEO of COINUT, a cryptocurrency exchange.
- Franklyn Richards is Founding Director of the Litecoin Foundation and COO of Litecoin.com. He’s also COO of Zulu Republic, a blockchain company that has a suite of Litecoin products. An Englishman, he first connected with Lee on Reddit. Despite his low public profile, he works behind the scenes to keep Litecoin moving ahead on multiple fronts.
- Zing Yang is a Director of the Litecoin Foundation and an enthusiastic member of the Litecoin community. She’s Senior Vice President, Head of Asia for VNX Exchange, a platform for VC investment with an emphasis on cryptocurrencies.
Developers
- Adrian Gallagher is Litecoin’s lead developer. An Australian, he works on the Litecoin core and has been instrumental in pushing forward with its most popular — and controversial — upgrades, such as the SegWit initiative. Thanks to his work on the Litecoin core client, he was hired full-time by the Litecoin Foundation.
- Loshan T. is a lead developer on Litecoin and an active contributor to its growth. Loshan oversaw development of the Litecoin Foundaton’s Loafwallet.
🗞 News
- Litecoin Foundation is the official site of the Litecoin Foundation, where news on developments, partnerships, and overall momentum can be found.
- Litecoin.com is the official site of Litecoin and also keeps readers updated on Litecoin news and updates from the team behind LTC.
- Cointelegraph analyzes fintech and blockchain topics, along with breaking news in the crypto sector. Litecoin is a regular topic in their stories.
- CCN is a crypto-focused business news service with a section devoted to Litecoin.
- CoinDesk is a publication on all aspects of blockchain technology, with significant coverage of Litecoin news and market data.
- Brave New Coin is a cryptocurrency site that provides price analysis, news, and resources, including coverage of Litecoin.
⛏ Miners
- F2Pool — Mines about 18% of the total hash rate and is China-based.
- ViaBTC — Based in China and mines about 14% of the total hash rate.
- LTC Top — Lesser-known new pool based in China and likely a division of Bitmain; mines about 14% of the total hash rate.
- LitecoinPool.org — started by a member of the Litecoin core team, mines about 14% of the total hash rate.
- Antpool — Based in China and a division of Bitmain; mines about 10% of the total hash rate.
- BW.com — Bit World is based in China and mines about 5% of the total hash rate.
👜 Wallets
🖥️ Software & Web Wallets
- SFOX provides an institutional and professional wallet for LTC, as well as other leading cryptocurrencies. SFOX’s wallet features multi-user functionality, 2FA/U2F support, and unified reporting.
- LoafWallet is a mobile wallet for iOS and Android developed by the Litecoin Foundation.
- Electrum Litecoin is a Litecoin software wallet forked from the Bitcoin electrum wallet. Litecoin Electrum allows you to control and manage your private keys from your computer.
- Jaxx is a wallet with built-in ShapeShift integration, handling multiple cryptocurrencies.
- Exodus is a desktop wallet that supports eight different currencies and sports an active user interface, built-in Shapeshift integration, and other features.
💽 Hardware Wallets
⛪ Communities
- Litecoin Talk Forum: A general discussion forum for all things Litecoin.
- Litecoin Telegram Group: The biggest Litecoin telegram chat group, with over 24,000 subscribers.
- r/litecoin: For general Litecoin discussion, head to the main Litecoin subreddit.
- r/litecoinmarkets: A subreddit focused on trading Litecoin.
What did we miss?
Do you have any favorite Litecoin resources that we missed? Let us know in the comments! One of the best ways to immerse yourself in the crypto ecosystem is sharing with the community at large.
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