![Litecoin v Bitcoin Top two cryptocurrencies compared [INFOGRAPHIC] screnshot](https://www.business2community.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Litecoin-v-Bitcoin-Top-two-cryptocurrencies-compared-INFOGRAPHIC-screnshot.png)
Litecoin vs. Bitcoin, who win? It is more like a comparison between gold and silver. These are the top two cryptocurrencies by market cap if you don’t include places where you can buy Ripple (XRP). Recently Bitcoin (BTC) had a market cap of $8.48 billion and Litecoin (LTC) was at $485 million.
Litecoin is based upon the Scrypt hashing algorithm and Bitcoin is based on SHA256D. Miners are incentivized with bounties. For each Litecoin found the current reward is 50 LTC and the maximum number of coins in exisitence is capped at 84 million. For each Bitcoin discovered, the reward is down to 25 BTC and will continue to be halved on a regular basis until 2040 when the maximum supply is reached capped at 21 million.
Mining cryptocurencies is a post in itself. Briefly, it involves using freely dwnloadable software run on dedicated hardware or cloud computing power to solve complex calculations. The calculations get harder over time and the rewards get reduced as well. Miners are rewarded or discovering blocks which are added to a block chain every 10 minutes. Currently it may make more financial sense to try to mine LTC rather than BTC.
Do check out: History of Bitcoin [INFOGRAPHIC]
What do you think the future is like for Litecoin vs. Bitcoin?
Leave a comment and do share.
RESOURCES
http://bitcoinexaminer.org/litecoin-vs-bitcoin-who-wins-the-crypto-battle-infographic/
(Infographic source: Bitcoin Examiner. Photo screenshot)