Litecoin is a peer-to-peer digital currency and open source software project which almost directly mirrors Bitcoin, only with a larger total supply of coins. The core technical details are almost identical to Bitcoin, allowing Litecoin to benefit from advancements such as the Lightning Network. As such, Litecoin (LTC) has often been referred to as ‘digital silver,’ as Bitcoin is sometimes referred to as ‘digital gold.’ Litecoin was released by Charlie Lee in 2011. Lee notably sold or donated his entire stack of litecoins at the cryptocurrency’s all-time price high — leading to speculation from some severe critics that the project is little more than a Ponzi scheme in which Lee essentially copied Bitcoin and subsequently sold his creation at the top. However, Lee maintains that his decision to sell/donate his litecoins was made to transparently remove his financial ties to the project.
