Every year, new promising projects appear on the cryptocurrency market. In some cases, they are capable of turning into real giants. In this article, we will talk about two fairly popular coins that have been at the top for a very long time — Ethereum and Litecoin.
Litecoin is a means of payment, while Ethereum is a supercomputer. Other projects and various smart contracts can be created on their basis. Let’s take a quick look at each of these projects and review their strengths and weaknesses.
Features of the Litecoin Cryptocurrency Briefly
Litecoin is a decentralized cryptocurrency that works similarly to Bitcoin. It is an excellent alternative to the most popular coin in the world. Users from all over the world can receive payments in a few seconds with minimal fees. The LTC rate dynamics are positive. The currency has many advantages, so first things first.
Litecoin was created by Charlie Lee, a programmer from San Francisco. He used to work for Google. The official launch with the support of a large Bitcoin community took place on October 13, 2011. The rate kept near $1 for about two years, but in 2013 the capitalization increased sharply. It made it possible to bring cryptocurrency to a new level. It has grown from $40 million to $750 million in a short period of time. Thus, it broke into the top 10 coins & if you need Ripple, then you can also Buy XRP anytime.
Features of Litecoin in a Nutshell
LTC is one of the most popular Bitcoin hard forks. As the first cryptocurrency, LTC uses blockchain technology. The system works on a special algorithm that provides the ability for mining. Every year the number of awards for the open block is getting smaller.
When creating Litecoin, all the shortcomings of the first cryptocurrency were taken into account. Charlie Lee tried to eliminate all the disadvantages of Bitcoin by making it a better version. A special algorithm allows quick transactions. Litecoin is more suitable for everyday use, such as paying bills in cafes or shopping. Low fees, fast transaction speed contribute to this.
As of this writing, the “crypto silver” price hovers around $160. This is almost three times less than its previous peak of 2018.
Brief Description of the Ethereum Cryptocurrency
Ethereum is a transactional blockchain platform for deploying dApps based on smart contracts. It is implemented as a single distributed EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine).
The ETH coin is used to exchange values within the network, as well as to create and activate smart contracts. It ranks second in the global crypto ranking. It has high liquidity, so you can certainly exchange ETH to LTC in a matter of seconds.
Like all classic blockchains, the Ethereum network is a sequential blockchain with transactions recorded in it. One of the main features of this system is the subordination of all operations to the PoW (Proof-of-Work) consensus algorithm. Updating data in such a system occurs by performing complex mathematical calculations by nodes.
Ethereum Blockchain
Ethereum transactions are signed packages between participating accounts. The latter got a unique identifier (address) and are of two types:
- External – used to store and transfer coins belonging to the network members.
- Smart contract accounts.
Depending on the type of account of the final addressee, the purpose of the transaction can be either a regular ETH transfer or activation of a smart contract.
Gas is a kind of fuel for carrying out absolutely all types of operations on the Ethereum blockchain. This is a conventional unit for assessing the computing power spent on transaction confirmation. The amount and price of gas determine the size of the fee miners receive for their work.
Mining Ethereum 2021
Needless to say that the excitement around cryptocurrency mining continues to gain momentum. To date, Ethereum’s price reached $2000. Obviously, such rapid growth changed with a correction, as it usually happens. However, at the time of this writing, the ETH rate is $1,787. Despite the 30% drop in a week, Ethereum mining is still considered to be a quite profitable activity.
Unfortunately, there is bad news for gamers and enthusiasts. The cost of Ethereum directly affects the cost of graphics cards. Now it is almost impossible to purchase a graphics accelerator at the recommended prices. So any further increase in the value of Ethereum or other related cryptocurrencies will only worsen this trouble. Moreover, AMD and Nvidia are suffering from a shortage of current generations of GPUs and cannot cope with the increased demand.
Notwithstanding the above, prices for graphics cards may decrease against the background of the recent corrections. This will stabilize the situation in the graphic card market.