litecoin just like Bitcoin it's a cryptocurrency that runs across a decentralized peer-to-peer network it allows users to make and receive payments securely and anonymously without going through a third party like a bank or a government it was created in 2011 by Charlie me who said he intended it to be the silver to bitcoins gold and to that end there are more like coins than there are bitcoins much like there's more silver than gold like coins supply is capped at 84 million coins that's four times the maximum number of Bitcoin and there are already 55 million like coins in circulation compared to 17 million bitcoins light coin transactions are also faster and cheaper than bitcoins because it uses a simpler algorithm known as script this makes it much easier for computers in the light coin network to verify transactions so how exactly does light coin work well it's like Bitcoin all transactions are recorded in a transparent public ledger known as the blockchain where each block contains a list of previously verified transactions anonymity is maintained by using wallet addresses rather than individuals names coins are sent between these wallets and often stored within them each computer keeps his own copy of the blockchain so that it cannot be altered without the agreement of the majority of the computers in the network pending transactions enter a pool and aren't finalized until they've been added to the blockchain first computers must check pending transactions against the historical record and collect legitimate transactions into a new block this block is then verified through a process known as mining where computers compete to solve a complex mathematical problem the winning computer provides a proof that their block is valid and other computers use this proof to verify the block and update their version of the ledger the winning computer is then rewarded with some freshly mined like coins in addition to the transaction fees from the user network litecoin is very volatile so there are plenty of opportunities for shrewd traders to take advantages of price movements and with an IG trading account you can open a position on litecoin whether you expected to rise or fall as you don't own the underlying asset and you can also limit your risk using a guaranteed stop