Bitcoin Cash vs Litecoin

Both Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin are Bitcoin hardforks. Litecoin was one of the first altcoins, and, created in 2011, already solved some problems of the first cryptocurrency. Created in 2017 Bitcoin Cash pursued similar goals, but its developers planned to achieve them by other methods. However, at the moment neither Bitcoin Cash nor Litecoin can seriously compete with the main cryptocurrency. And they rather compete with each other. So who is in the lead in the confrontation of Bitcoin Cash vs Litecoin?

The essence and features of Litecoin

In 2011, when Litecoin.org was created, not all bitcoin problems were obvious. In particular, hardly anyone could have imagined that in six years the popularity of the most important cryptocurrency will be the main obstacle on its development path. Slow and expensive transactions will force users to turn their attention to altcoins. However, even then, some measures were taken to improve it.

Litecoin is favorably distinguished from bitcoin by the following features:

1. Each new block in the Litecoin blockchain is formed in approximately two and a half minutes (which is 4 times faster than Bitcoin). This can validate transactions faster.
2. The reward for one block is twice as high as that of bitcoin. This value gradually decreases, as in bitcoin, however, litecoin was launched later, and its reward will always be larger.
3. The mining difficulty is reviewed twice a week (in bitcoin – once a week). Due to this, the system becomes more flexible and reacts faster to changes in combined network computing power.
4. The total emission will be 84 million tokens (the issue of bitcoin is 21 million).

In the first years after launch, Litecoin was also quite convenient. Because it was not necessary to create GPU mining rigs for its extraction. CPU coped with this task much more efficiently than with mining bitcoin. So it was possible to generate litecoins on a PC at home. But with ASIC-miners popularization, these devices have become the optimal solution for both cryptocurrencies.

The main Litecoin developer Charlie Lee repeatedly stated that his goal was to create a “bitcoin killer”, but an altcoin, which will become an organic addition to the world’s main cryptocurrency.

The essence and features of Bitcoin Cash

Bitcoin Cash (bitcoincash.org), on the contrary, was the result of harsh disagreements between the key figures in the bitcoin community. In 2017, when the scalability problem reached a critical point, and it was time to take drastic measures, two most promising solutions were identified:

• Removing the block size limit of 1 MB.
• SegWit – a solution in which part of the information will be stored outside the blockchain to reduce its size.

Miners, basically, were the main supporters for removing the block size limit, since such a measure would allow them to increase profits even if fees for transactions would be reduced. However, such a decision was not welcomed by developers who feared that the requirements for equipment would increase even more, and small-scale miners would lose all chances of competition with large pools, which would lead to ecosystem centralization.

As a result, the second option (SegWit) was adopted, with a small compromise towards the miners (the block size has become twice as large). However, a group of influential crypto-enthusiasts, who disagreed with this decision, organized their own bitcoin hardfork, which was named Bitcoin Cash.

Unlike bitcoin, there is no opportunity to store information outside the main blockchain, but the block size has been increased to 8 MB, and it is possible that it will be increased again. Thus, SegWit opponents were able to solve the speed problem.

Supporters of Bitcoin Cash, led by influential crypto-evangelist Roger Ver, say that now it is closer to the original bitcoin Whitepaper than “the big Bitcoin”, and therefore, closer to original cryptocurrency vision of Satoshi Nakamoto. In their opinion, the main bitcoin feature is integrity, and the transfer of information beyond outside the blockchain contradicts this idea.

Bitcoin Cash vs Litecoin – whose positions are stronger?

As can be seen from the description, technically both bitcoin forks do not have many differences between each other (if compared to other altcoins). At the heart of both cryptocurrencies lies the bitcoin blockchain, and block sizes, generation speed, and other parameters do not differ significantly. That is why the definition of the leader in the Bitcoin Cash vs Litecoin competition will be based on more indirect factors. Potential directions of development and introduction of new technologies (for example, Lightning Network for litecoin) are also of value.

On Coinmarketcap, both cryptocurrencies consistently rank among the top ten in terms of capitalization, and, usually are in neighboring positions. However, Bitcoin Cash capitalization is nominally several times higher than Litecoin’s which mean something when you are picking best altcoin to invest.

Both cryptocurrencies are supported by influential cryptocommunity figures. At the head of the Litecoin is Charlie Lee, one of the main supporters of BCash is Roger Ver. Lee is known mainly as a creator of Litecoin, and also as one of the main specialists of the Coinbase cryptoexchange. Ver is one of the first cryptoenthusiasts, the creator of many important services for the ecosystem.

And while in the cryptocommunity, Roger has a very controversial reputation (and Lee’s reputation is mostly positive), he has a much greater impact on the newcomers thanks to his control over the Bitcoin.com portal. It is to this site that most crypto beginners come in search of information, and they immediately fall under “brainwashing”. In addition, the brand “bitcoin” is somewhat on the side of Bitcoin Cash – it is much more recognizable than Litecoin. So in the confrontation Bitcoin Cash vs Litecoin BCash gets the upper hand.

Summary

However, there is one significant nuance that does not speak in favor of BCash. The fact is that Litecoin, created in 2011, was launched more correctly and is more decentralized than Bitcoin in 2008. Many enthusiasts immediately learned about Litecoin. And the mining took place on equal terms so that coins were distributed more evenly. These measures, adopted back in 2011, now provide almost zero probability of someone taking control over the ecosystem.

Bitcoin is another matter. In the beginning, when mining was simple, only a limited group of people was involved in new coins generation. Using ordinary personal computers, they created tens and hundreds of thousands of bitcoins. Now, these people have become dollar multimillionaires, and just few investors have most of the bitcoins at their disposal.

Despite the fact that the BCash was created in 2017, most of the coins are controlled by the same users that once managed to stock up bitcoin.

It is currently impossible to determine an unambiguous leader in the Bitcoin Cash vs Litecoin “fight”. Both coins are very popular but are developing in different directions. The BCash goes along the way of increasing the block size, Litecoin mastering the Lightning Network. Gradually, these altcoins will become less and less similar, and who will prevail only the time will show.

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