Bitcoin or litecoin: how litecoin beats bitcoin

Bitcoin or lightcoin? Which coin is better after all? There are many parameters by which we can compare cryptocurrencies. That's what this article will talk about.

Bitcoin or litecoin: which is better?

The first thing that makes bitcoin different from litecoin is the designation of these cryptoassets. Abbreviation BTC is used to mark the first digital asset in the world, and popular altcoin is marked as LTC.

In order to determine a conventional winner in a number of parameters between Litecoin and Bitcoin, it would be reasonable to make a comparison on the following points:

1. Market capitalization metrics.
2. Generation characteristics.
3. Speed and profitability of transactions.
4. Advanced features.

Difference between bitcoin and litecoin: market capitalization

Bitcoin is the leader of the cryptocurrency world. The first digital asset has a market capitalization of more than $1 trillion as of March 18, 2021. It surpasses its competitor, which has settled in the ninth position, by 80 times. LTC has a capitalization of $13.5 billion. Bitcoin's exchange rate is about $58,000. This figure is not the maximum, but it is about 270 times the exchange value of LightCoin ($203).

Bitcoin or LightCoin: features and profitability of generating digital assets

Mining LightCoin is easier. It uses a more simplified Scrypt standard than the SHA-256 algorithm. The generation of Bitcoin virtual coins is associated with a solid capital investment. With the loss of profitability of solo mining, there is a need to purchase expensive computing hardware, called ASIC. Its cost starts from 500 and reaches 10 thousand U.S. dollars. But there are alternatives:

1. Migration to cloud mining. The popularity of cloud cryptocurrency mining services is rapidly increasing. However, the issue of fraud is acute. A separate problem is the duration of the payback of packages, which depends on the exchange rate fluctuations of digital coins.
2. Collaboration with pools for cryptocurrency mining. Determining what is better - Bitcoin or Lightcoin, you should consider the possibility of generating by participating in the pools. These voluntary associations of miners can consist of hundreds of thousands of PC owners.
3. Mini-farms of graphics cards.Miners who understand the computer hardware, can at home build a mini-farm of 5 or more graphics cards, but the big income from mining will not.

What does litecoin have over bitcoin? In terms of mining complexity, litecoin is more profitable than Bitcoin, but differs from the latter in terms of lower yields. Even though in LTC network the generation of blocks is 4 times faster, but in the profitability calculation this factor plays a secondary role. This is despite the fact that graphics cards and ASICs based on the Scrypt algorithm cost much less than their SHA-256 counterparts.

What's more profitable to mine: Bitcoin or Lightcoin

It remains to determine what to mine in terms of profitability. Let's consider each direction:

• CPU. In 2011 Litecoin became a «breath of fresh air» for miners who joined the hardware race and were forced to buy expensive video cards for VTC mining. Due to new algorithm and low complexity of the network, standard processors (CPUs) were used to mine LightCoin. Today such earnings are not relevant due to the appearance of asics, which fundamentally changed the balance of power in the field of mining. For example, the Intel Core i5-2320 CPU gives a hash rate of 0.7 MX/s, while the Intel Core i5-3570K is a bit more - 1.34 MX/s. Mining LTC on CPUs will only bring in $0.21 per month. And that's without taking into account the cost of light, which runs into tens of dollars. The same situation is typical for BTC, which mining with powerful CPUs brings only losses.
• GPU. The situation is similar with GPUs. Since early 2014, GPU-based farms have been increasingly used for Bitcoin mining. They were effective until early 2017, but after the price hike and the complexity of the network, the cost of setting up the farms exceeded the potential earnings. For example, the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080Ti produces only 1.4 GC/s when mining on SHA-256. Even if you install ten such GPUs in a farm, hash rate rises to 14 GC/s, and the monthly profit (not including electricity) is only 20 cents. At the same time, such a farm consumes at least 2.1 MWh per month. To calculate the cost of light, this number is multiplied by the electricity tariff in your region.

As for LightCoin, the situation does not look better. The NVIDIA GTX 1080 Ti video card mentioned above is producing 0.895 MX/s when mining on Scrypt. If there are 10 such GPUs, the farm will produce 8.95 MX/s. From the calculation as of May 28, 2018, the monthly income is $1.43. But let's not forget the cost of electricity. Here the consumption will be similar - from 2.1 MWh (per month) and higher. So the cost of electricity times outweighs the profit.

• ASIC miners. Of the equipment that can still be used to mine Bitcoin or Lightcoin, it is worth highlighting asics - special machines based on modern microchips. Their task is to solve complex mathematical operations and calculate the hash of the next block. For Bitcoin, suitable solutions are Bitmain Antminer S9i (13-14 TX/sec) and AvalonMiner841 (13 TX/sec).

The LTC cryptocurrency was Charles Lee's idea to be resistant to the use of asics. But this was not an obstacle for the creators of such machines. Soon after the appearance of ASIC-mainers on SHA-256 the equipment on Scrypt also became available. For example, today Bitmain Antminer L3++ ASICs with 580 MH/s hash rate and Innosilicon A6 LTCMaster (1.23 GH/s) are in demand.

• Cloud-based mining. When analyzing the prospects of Bitcoin and Litecoin mining, one should not forget about such direction as renting the capacity of third-party services. This option is suitable for miners who do not want to buy hardware, deal with its setup and maintenance, and spend money on light charges every month. One of the popular services genesis-mining.ru. Its advantage is the ability to mine various cryptocurrencies, including LightCoin or Bitcoin.

How litecoin wins over bitcoin: profitability calculations

The calculations considered are conditional, because a number of parameters affect the income received:

• The difficulty of mining the network. This figure grows for both cryptocurrencies (for LightCoin with more activity). There is a very high risk that in 3-6 months the bought equipment will bring less income. Then you will have to spend money to buy more capacity.
• Cryptocurrency Price. LTC and BTC exchange rates are volatile, it's almost impossible to predict its movement.
• Electricity costs. It is important to calculate the payback based on rates in your region.
• The size of the investment. As the popularity of crypto mining increases, so do the prices of equipment. ASIC miners are quickly sold out, forcing you to borrow asics from retailers, which incurs high costs. Cloud mining services have higher rates as cryptocurrencies rise in price.

What is better to mine - Bitcoin or Lightcoin? From the perspective, Litecoin looks more interesting because it requires less investment due to its easier mining. Under favorable conditions, the payback period for LTC mining equipment is faster. As for the current realities, Bitcoin looks more profitable, because the rate of the cryptocurrency is very high now. However, you will have to invest a lot in equipment, and mining alone, as before, will not work. Now mining of the top digital asset is going in pools.

Difference between bitcoin and lightcoin: speed and profitability of transfers

Bytcoin loses significantly to its competitor in terms of the speed of money transfers. The growth in the number and volume of transactions on the first cryptocurrency's network has caused scaling problems. The number of unconfirmed transfers runs into the hundreds of thousands. The throughput rate often drops to a critical point.

The Litecoin network is misunderstood by many as a test version of Bitcoin, but it is a separate market player. Part of the reason for this misperception is that the SegWit algorithm was activated here earlier. Thanks to this, the already high speed of payments has increased by 2 times. The institute of atomic swaps was successfully integrated, allowing to substitute VTS for remote settlement.

What are we seeing in the Bitcoin network? Despite the introduction of the Lightning Network (processing micro-transactions outside the main blockchain), SegWit, and the launch of SegWit2X, the issue of rapid transfers remains unresolved. Services offered by third-party services allow transferring Bitcoins very quickly, without waiting for the standard 6 confirmations from miners. Moreover, you can get Bitcoin debit cards in order to operate with your crypto-savings without limitations.

Bitcoin or LightCoin: additional features

Other highlights include:

• Network effect.
• Level of development of trade infrastructure.
• Risk and return on investment

The network effect plays an important role in Bitcoin's development. Developers initially took the course preventing Litecoin, as well as other cryptocurrencies, from overtaking the pioneer. While the technical simplicity of mining is important for ordinary digital asset owners, it is the large miners and cryptotraders who prefer to operate the more expensive, speculative, and highly liquid asset that is VTC.

Which is better for trading, Bitcoin or LightCoin? We have to say that the first digital asset has a more developed network for conversion mutual settlements. On exchanges, the preferred trading pair is BTC/USD, which means that Bitcoin must be considered as the main competitor of the dollar, but not other altcoins.

For ordinary citizens, the low price of coins made Litecoin a convenient and reachable investment asset. After all, quotes at the beginning of 2017 fluctuated in the range of $4-5. The increase was about 6500%. Compared to the price of VTC, $203 per LTC coin is a low entry threshold. In comparison to the price of VTC, $203 per LTC coin is a low entry threshold.

Latest events disprove the myth that LightCoin quotes are tied to the Bitcoin exchange rate. For example, during the hard correction of the entire cryptocurrency market, when the price of the first digital currency decreased by about $7,000, Litecoin was almost the only asset whose rate jumped by about 20%. LTC showed its best side, reacting with insignificant correction towards depreciation on information spread about selling by Charles Lee (Litecoin developer) of all its assets due to conflict of interests.

Which is better, Bitcoin or Litecoin? Both cryptocurrencies have weaknesses and strengths and lead on some points. In order to invest, it is necessary to constantly monitor exchange rate fluctuations, to diversify risks, distributing savings and buying not only Bitcoin and Litecoin, but also other top altcoins.

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