Today cryptocurrencies are to be considered a concrete reality; together with the best known Bitcoin, other virtual currencies are increasingly spreading, among which one of the best known is Litecoin.

Let's find out what are its characteristics and what are the differences compared to Bitcoin. Litecoin is a crypto currency whose birth is due to Charlie Lee. In recent times and in particular in recent days, the currency has recorded very important price increases, becoming the fifth cryptocurrency by capitalization value.

Recent news from the markets speak of a doubling of prices; in fact in just four days it went from a starting value of 140 dollars to a final value of 300 dollars for a single Litecoin, with a total amount of exchanges that is around 15 billion. The current prices represent the historical highs for this currency.

The continuous and constant growth of Litecoin has meant that the same creator of the currency, through its twitter profile, has warned investors; In fact, the fear is that there may be a sudden fall in the short term which could last many years.

The investment is advantageous but one must keep in mind the possibility of experiencing sudden drops, as indeed happened not long ago when its value decreased by 90%, going from 48 to 4 dollars very quickly. The advice of the creator and financial experts is to not invest in this crypto currency if you are unable to amortize any losses in value and consequent large losses of money.

In view of its greater spendability, Litecoin is metaphorically defined as "digital silver" compared to Bitcoin which is instead considered "digital gold". 

THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BITCOIN AND LITECOIN In the current market the Litecoin offer is higher than the best known Bitcoin: the data show values ​​of 84 million pieces against the 21 million of Bitcoin. The strength and the main advantage over Bitcoin is given by the higher speed used in transactions; in fact, the operations carried out with Litecoins take on average just over two minutes, compared to the approximately 300 minutes required for Bitcoins.

Thanks to this speed, the creator and the various financial analysts have attributed Litecoin a key role in the payment system, considering instead Bitcoin above all a store of value. From such considerations comes the definition of "digital silver" for Litecoin and "digital gold" for Bitcoin. From a technical point of view, Litecoin allows you to have a greater frequency of confirmation in transactions and better data retention; it also allows you to make instant payments at almost zero cost, regardless of where you are.

There are several open source software on the network (ie free programs without license restrictions) that allow you to make quick transactions in Litecoin. If you are not yet an expert in DIY, you can also rely on the expertise of financial experts; in addition, there are numerous virtual communities that provide all the information necessary to make the best use of the new crypto currency tool.

The Litecoin project is a project born using opensource codes, that is codes that are made available to independent developers, free to make changes and improvements. As is also the case for Bitcoin, transactions and minting are not controlled by any central authority.

WHERE TO BUY Litecoins, as well as Bitcoins and Ethereums can be purchased very easily on the Coinbase platform, the best known and most reliable

TRANSACTION SECURITY All crypto currencies, being based on mathematical calculations and sophisticated algorithms, have a very high level of security. Litecoin uses a very efficient and rapid system for transactions while making them secure. Payments in this currency are accepted by an ever increasing number of commercial companies and this implicitly increases their security among users.

In general, virtual coins have their strength in the number of people who use them, in recent times rapidly growing. Also in this area, as with all financial transactions, prudence is recommended in order not to incur any scams; in fact, we reiterate that the strength of these crypto currencies lies in the number of transactions made, in the percentage of people who use them and in the lack of a supervisory authority.