About Litecoin
What is Litecoin?
Litecoin (LTC) is a 2011 fork of early Bitcoin code. It keeps the proof-of-work and fixed-cap framework while changing two parameters: the hash function is Scrypt rather than SHA-256, and the target block interval is about 2.5 minutes. Shorter blocks accumulate confirmations faster, at the cost of producing more block headers over the same period. The usual separation applies when reading a price: LTC is the asset unit, fiat is the quote unit, and an exchange print is one market at one moment.
Issuance schedule and halvings
Litecoin’s issuance mirrors Bitcoin’s structure on a different cycle: an initial subsidy of 50 LTC, halving every 840,000 blocks, toward a maximum supply of 84 million LTC. Three halvings had completed by August 2023, leaving the current subsidy at 6.25 LTC, and the next triggers at height 3,360,000. Halvings fire on block height rather than a date, so the calendar timing follows actual block production and can only be estimated.
How to read its relationship to Bitcoin
Litecoin is often watched as a parameter variant of Bitcoin: both SegWit and MWEB activated here first and were then debated for Bitcoin. That gives it a genuine role as a proving ground, but it does not mean the two prices move together or hold a stable ratio. Hash rate, holder composition and liquidity depth all differ, so inferring one chain’s move from the other has no reliable basis.