Saga is a Layer 1 blockchain protocol that allows developers to design their own dedicated chains for running applications. Learn more in this article.

 universe right now is the lack of accessible tools for developers. Many people interested in designing new 

 projects struggle to find the right software developer kits (SDKs) for their projects. The Saga ecosystem aims to fix this issue by providing unparalleled support to app and game developers. 

Can the Saga ecosystem really become the premier chain for web3 development? Keep reading to learn how it works and see whether it's likely to attract new developers.

 blockchain protocol. It allows developers to design their own dedicated chains for running applications. People who work on Saga all share the same security, scaling solutions and SDKs, but they each get their own unique chain that they can customize to suit their needs.

 of technology, crypto and finance enthusiasts. CEO Rebecca Liao is a co-founder of the Skuchain project, the designer of the 

 and a former international corporate attorney. Other members of the founding team include former Tendermint executive Jin Kwon, Blocktech Ventures founder Bogdan Alexandrescu and 

. They realized that there was a major need for a development-focused blockchain specifically designed for game project development. Saga's mission has attracted many major investors, 

Saga aims to create a new system for web3 project developers. Currently, most developers have to choose between the ease of working on an established chain like 

 versus the convenience and customization of designing their own chain. The Saga team realized that the most effective option for game developers would actually be a combination of the two types of development environments.

Saga wants to let developers set up their own sovereign blockchain so they can decide how things like 

 and transaction fees work. However, Saga also aims to provide extensive support for developers in its ecosystem. Its underlying framework ensures that people still have excellent security and a reliable validator set, no matter what their gaming project is.

 ecosystem, whose interchain web development standard is a set of protocols that allows a broad variety of blockchains to communicate with each other. The Saga network uses the 

 and the shared security system of the Cosmos ecosystem to manage the network, and has created its own Layer 1 chain that runs the entire Saga ecosystem and can do things like automatically launching 

The Saga Mainnet handles each developer's compiled smart contract binary. However, it also runs parallel dedicated chains that function as virtual machine (VM) modules capable of handling a specific set of smart contracts. End users for blockchain games and other apps interact only with the dedicated blockchain, while the developer's system manages the fees and individual transactions on the Saga Mainnet.

All of the chains on Saga are validated through optimistic coordination, which requires every Saga validator to validate each chain in the Saga ecosystem via 

 validation, verifying transactions by temporarily locking Saga tokens.

The Saga network contains a lot more than just the basic features offered through the Cosmos SDK and ecosystem. In addition to the software development tools and helpful interface for Saga's validators and developers, the ecosystem also contains the following features.

The overall layout of the Saga ecosystem starts with the Saga Mainnet. Built on the Cosmos hub, this framework includes a full validator set and a dedicated blockchain for handling all smart contracts. The basic protocols are passed on to each child chain in the system, and information is relayed back and forth between the main chain and all of the secondary chains. Saga's validators stake tokens, and then check to make sure every element of the topology follows Saga’s regulations.

 are a method for creating a dedicated blockspace that a developer can manage. These chainlets function as virtual machines that can handle smart contracts and automatically launch Celestia rollups. Each chainlet is its own blockchain that handles nothing but a specific gaming project. Developers decide on the gas fees they'll charge users, and can add chainlets as their projects expand and require more throughput from the remaining validators.

Saga's shared security relies on both the Cosmos hub and its own set of validators to secure the network. Validators on Saga’s network are monitored by auditors who can catch potential issues with individual dedicated chains. If anyone in the validator set fails to properly confirm a smart contract, their staked tokens are automatically confiscated.

 is a publishing system for gaming developers who want to create their own blockchains with help from Saga. It offers infinite scalability, seamless 

 and transactions without gas fees. In addition to use of the Cosmos SDK, developers who choose to publish their game through Saga Origins receive access to a variety of helpful marketing and distribution tools.

 is an interconnected blend of all the developers and projects in the Saga system. Though each sovereign blockchain is fully independent of others, they all join together to offer users a variety of exciting web3 projects. People interested in checking out the latest blockchain designs can join the Multiverse and browse all the neat concepts built on Saga.

To help get the Saga validator system started, Saga released 

 to its community members. People were eligible for the 

 if they had participated in the staking program or played in tournaments to promote Saga ecosystem games. The airdrop eligibility period required remaining validators and other participants to be active between January and October of 2023. Once the airdrop began allowing people to claim tokens, it continued to run until Mar 27, 2024.

 consists of four separate phases. The company has already completed the Andromeda and Cassiopeia phases, which focused on designing the Mainnet and setting up the system of Saga validators. Currently, the Saga team is in the Pegasus phase, which is about releasing tokens and opening the Saga Mainnet to the public. Sometime in late 2022, Saga’s team hopes to reach their Mainnet V2 phase, which will prioritize a new version of the Saga Mainnet with more features and options for dedicated blockspace.

SAGA tokens are the primary method for paying fees on the Saga network. These tokens are also used for staking, and function as a method of confirming Saga transactions. There are a total of 

, of which around 90 million have thus far been released. Saga plans to distribute its tokens as follows:

SAGA is still in the early stages of its token launch. However, it’s already surprised investors, having debuted at $4.91 on Apr 9, 2024 before quickly surging to its ATH to date of $7.60. It then steadily declined over the next few days to its current price of $3.06 as of Apr 19, 2024.

 SAGA, with its experts believing SAGA’s price will reach $15.73 by 2025 and decrease in 2027 to $6.27, before rising again to $13.45 by 2030. This bullish sentiment is amplified by analysts at Changelly, 

 SAGA’s price will increase to $6.91 in 2025, $14.21 in 2027 and $44.36 in 2030.

Looking to trade Saga tokens? Bybit now offers SAGAUSDT Perpetual contracts. To get started, you’ll first need to 

, then fund it with cryptocurrency and navigate to the 

SAGA has done an extremely impressive job of attracting users, and seems poised to become the big coin debut of April 2024 with its high price.

However, it's hard to say whether SAGA can maintain its price in the long run. It's quite common for new startups to have a strong start and then drop in price once their project fails to take off. If the Saga ecosystem can’t attract new developers and continue to release impressive projects, investors could see some major SAGA losses in the future.

Since this coin is so volatile right now, investors need to 

. It has the potential for both big profits and big losses, so you’ll want to carefully consider how these price shifts might affect your portfolio. For best results, avoid investing more than you can afford to lose, make sure you diversify your investments — and 

By offering developers the chance to create their own dedicated chains, Saga offers a more convenient and scalable system for blockchain gaming. Its helpful features and low transaction fees have already attracted many people, and it's no surprise that many others are interested in the project. Furthermore, SAGA tokens have had a promising start with extremely impressive growth. If the Saga company can successfully capitalize on its early buzz, it has a bright future.

Intermediate

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Saga (SAGA): Catalyzing the Multiverse With Scalable Chains

Discover Masa, a platform empowering individuals to control and monetize their data, decentralizing AI storage and promoting ethical data sharing.

Few areas of the crypto industry are as popular these days as artificial intelligence (AI). AI-related tokens and projects experience some of the highest growth rates, with particular interest attached to generative AI technology and large language models (LLMs), all thanks to OpenAI's massively popular ChatGPT tool. This is no surprise, as blockchain technology has the potential to address many of the limitations of LLM algorithms, particularly those related to the issues of data and centralization of AI models.

The Masa network (MASA) is a new AI-focused crypto platform that brings a fresh paradigm to the world by allowing individuals to control and monetize their personal data. Its platform also contributes to the AI revolution by decentralizing the storage of both the user data and the LLMs utilizing it.

 (MASA) is a blockchain platform that provides access to user-consented, hyper-specific behavioral and personal data and decentralized LLM algorithms. 

The platform launched its operations on Apr 11, 2024. Masa operates as a subnet on the 

 (AVAX) blockchain. To enable cross-chain functionality, it has also integrated 

 technology. This lets Masa bridge assets, initially to two key blockchains, 

 (BSC), with additional chains to be added in the future.

Masa provides user-consented AI data that’s stored in a decentralized way. As of mid-April 2024, more than 40 million data points from over 1.4 million 

 user wallets are available via its permissionless data layer. Masa represents an entirely new decentralized AI paradigm: while most data providers use centralized storage solutions, its platform's data is always stored in a decentralized, blockchain-based format.

The data made available via Masa’s platform is user-consented for collection and privacy-protected using its Zero-Knowledge 

 (zkSBT) technology, which allows users to share their personal data securely and confidentially by storing this encrypted data on the blockchain. Thanks to the zkSBT, users can share fairly detailed personal data while protecting their identities and the specifics of their online activities.

This user-consented data is directly sourced from users through the Masa App and Masa Chrome browser extension with their consent. Users have complete control over their data, which is collected in a highly detailed, verified and ethical manner. 

As such, it's different from the typical user-aggregated data collected from the internet by companies. Compared to user-consented data, user-aggregated data tends to be less granular and, obviously, has ethical strings attached to it: in most cases, users don't consent to the collection of such data, or (at best) provide reluctant consent by clicking on annoying "Accept All Cookies" buttons.

While focusing mostly on user-consented data, the Masa platform also offers developers a way to access user-aggregated data for a richer data network. Using Masa's web data scraper, developers can extract data from websites, social media posts, blogs and online databases.

User-aggregated data is collected by data node workers via the Masa Oracle network and Masa Chrome extension and stored on the platform, benefiting from the 

In addition to datasets, Masa enables the decentralized execution of LLM algorithms, facilitated by the Oracle node workers, who leverage their surplus CPU and GPU computing power to run open-source LLMs for fine-tuning AI models.

The Masa project aspires to achieve goals crucial to the development of all data and AI industries. First, Masa allows individuals to completely control their own personal data by choosing what to share with the outside world while protecting their confidentiality. The blockchain-based storage mode also ensures the security of the stored data. Additionally, users can monetize access to their personal data, becoming a major beneficiary of its use.

All of these benefits are in stark contrast to the traditional way user data is collected, stored and used on Web 2.0 platforms. In this traditional mode, one is often unaware of what personal data is collected about them, as well as when and by whom. Although the data used for analytics purposes might be in an aggregated form, together with the details of other online users, individual users are still part of the "guinea pig" cohort whose details have been unceremoniously extracted and utilized without their knowledge or consent.

Moreover, when hit online with some fairly relevant advertising based on past search phrases, one begins to realize that data isn't always used in an aggregated format. In fact, its utilization can be quite personalized. And of course, in the traditional mode of data collection, we’re all rarely reimbursed for the data we share.

Another aim of the Masa project is to provide a secure and efficient decentralized infrastructure for running LLM algorithms. Traditional, centralized hosting solutions for AI models face challenges, such as technical capacity and security issues. For instance, many centrally hosted LLM-based solutions suffer from performance degradation when large numbers of users access them simultaneously. Masa's approach to leveraging decentralized resources for running open-source LLMs efficiently addresses these capacity limitations, providing enhanced scalability and reliability for AI applications.

Masa operates as a subnet on the Avalanche blockchain, using cross-chain communications supported by LayerZero to access other networks as well. Avalanche subnets are completely independent 

 networks with their own set of rules and functionalities. Subnets, including Masa, use Avalanche's validators, or a subset of validators, to secure the network and achieve consensus.

Besides the validators, the Masa network has another type of functional nodes — 

. These special Masa nodes play a critical role in providing structured data and advanced AI models while prioritizing data privacy.

The Masa Oracle network acts as a decentralized web scraper, gathering data from the internet and organizing it for AI training and development. This approach gives developers access to hyper-personalized training data to improve language model performance. It also supports the decentralization of LLMs, making them easily accessible without complex setup.

As mentioned above, users can manage access to and monetization of their personal data via Zero-Knowledge Soulbound Tokens (zkSBTs), which provide a secure way of providing access to users’ personal data without compromising their privacy.

 is the main gateway for users to interact with the Masa platform. It lets them provide access to personal data and earn crypto rewards by staking data in four different ways:

Masa’s native cryptocurrency, MASA, is a utility and 

 used to reward users for providing their data to the network. 

 MASA also earns you crypto rewards. Entities who wish to utilize data held by the network pay for access to it in MASA tokens. The token is also used to reward the Oracle nodes.

As a governance token, MASA lets you participate in votes on any changes and upgrades to the platform's rules or fee structure.

The token's supply economics doesn't specify a maximum cap. MASA's total supply is 1,588,866,523, which will be released gradually over a period of around four years starting in April 2024. Token supply allocation shares are per the table below.

The MASA token is available on Bybit via a 

. Bybit's Spot and Derivatives markets provide you with opportunities to trade hundreds of cryptocurrencies and crypto-based products. If you don’t have a Bybit account, you can easily 

 to access Bybit's range of crypto products and assets.

The Masa network is a refreshing addition to the data industry, whose user consent and privacy have been under attack for many years. The Masa platform puts data ownership in users' hands, allowing them to control access to their data and benefit from its monetization. As online privacy concerns and invasive Web 2.0 advertising shenanigans grow, more users will be attracted to Masa's unique data concept.

In addition to allowing individuals to control and monetize their data, Masa also contributes significantly to the development of 

, which is important because the decentralized mode of data and model storage championed by the platform has the potential to solve many technical limitations of LLMs and other types of AI algorithms. This is a network full of merit and promise; all it needs now is wider recognition and user adoption.

Advanced

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Masa (MASA): Powering AI With User-Centric Data Monetization

Today’s outperformer is LSK, which jumped 17.63% after Lisk partners with Velodrome to enhance blockchain access and drive ecosystem growth.

The SPX index is down 0.22% as the market anticipates less Federal Reserve rate cuts, considering the possibility of no cuts this year. The broader cryptocurrency market is up, with Bitcoin and Ether rising by 4.18% and 3.19%, respectively in the past 24 hours.

Lisk (LSK), launched on May 2016, is a cryptocurrency platform that enables developers to build decentralized applications (dapps) using JavaScript and TypeScript. It supports custom "sidechains" within its network, offering tools like a software development kit. Lisk has announced a partnership with Velodrome to support and expand its blockchain ecosystem. Lisk will purchase and lock $VELO tokens for voting, directing VELO emissions to key pairs on Lisk. This collaboration aims to support existing protocols on Lisk, attract new developers, and enhance blockchain accessibility and adoption in emerging markets. Velodrome will back Lisk's Layer 2 initiatives, aligning with the goal of creating a scalable, interoperable Ethereum future.

Check Out the Latest Prices, Charts, and Data of 

The Runes protocol is set to debut alongside Bitcoin's 2024 halving, heralding a new phase in Bitcoin's evolution by enabling the creation of fungible tokens directly on its network. This follows the impactful Ordinals protocol, which significantly expanded Bitcoin's functionalities. The Runes protocol will spark competition among developers to issue and acquire the first tokens, with global exchanges ready to support these tokens from day one. The halving event will also feature a race to mine a highly valuable "Epic" satoshi. As Bitcoin approaches this transformative era, extensive preparations and educational initiatives are underway to equip users for the forthcoming changes, marking a profound shift in Bitcoin's operational and cultural landscape.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs have yet another day of outflow, however, yesterday’s outflow was close to neutral. The market has seen fluctuating flows in these ETFs, with significant activity in some and none in others, reflecting mixed investor reactions. Recent substantial outflows echo trends from March, but analysts regard such fluctuations as typical for ETFs and not indicative of failure. Despite this volatility, the outlook for Bitcoin ETFs remains positive as they continue to draw institutional interest and shape market dynamics.

Avail, a blockchain data-availability protocol developed using Polygon’s SDK, has announced an airdrop of 600 million AVAIL tokens, marking its one-year anniversary since spinning off from Polygon Labs. The "Unification Drop" aims to bring together various blockchain communities by rewarding developers, governance contributors, educators, rollup users, stakers, and others who have significantly contributed to the ecosystem. Avail's infrastructure includes three segments: Nexus for cross-chain transactions, Fusion for liquid staking on chains like Ethereum and Bitcoin, and DA for scaling rollups through technologies like KZG commitments. The airdrop will distribute tokens to 354,605 wallet addresses and includes significant allocations for various roles across multiple blockchains, including Ethereum, Bitcoin, Solana, Cosmos, and more, emphasizing a unified Web3 environment.

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Runes Protocol Revolutionizes Bitcoin with New Token Capabilities Ahead of 2024 Halving

Nolus is a decentralized finance lending protocol with cross-chain capabilities. Learn more about how it works in this article.

One of the big advantages of decentralized finance (

) is that it provides more options for users. People who cannot get traditional loans because a typical bank deems them "high-risk" can turn to the DeFi sector to borrow crypto assets. The Nolus Protocol is a new DeFi lender that offers users all sorts of exciting opportunities. To see how this intriguing project works, explore this guide to learn all about Nolus.

 is a DeFi lending protocol. It has cross-chain capabilities that let people choose the most favorable rates possible and avoid the need to save up funds for liquidity.

Nolus was founded by Ivan Kostov and Kamen Trendafilov. Kostov worked in traditional finance, while Trendafilov has a background in marketing and business. During their time in these sectors, Nolus's founders realized that blockchain networks had the potential to revolutionize banking. They decided to join together and create a new leasing system that makes the most of DeFi products instead of just trying to mimic past banking methods.

Nolus started work on its plans in 2022 and officially launched its mainnet in 2023, having successfully completed several investing rounds and receiving 

 Token Metrics, Autonomy Capital, Everstake and more.

Nolus aims to tackle three problems common in crypto lending markets:

 software developer kit (SDK). Its code is entirely open sourced, and is updated and changed only when all stakeholders in the Nolus community vote to do so. According to the Nolus white paper, its ecosystem’s goal is “to build a novel user experience–driven automated money market” that facilitates direct interactions between lenders and borrowers without involving any other users.

The Nolus lending method starts with lenders choosing to supply 

 to the system. Any borrower who submits a down payment can get a loan from this supply of stablecoins. Both the coins and the down payment are 

, and interest is determined based on the value of the items. There’s no fixed repayment schedule, but the smart contracts ensure that interest is automatically removed from the collateral, and then paid to the lender at regular intervals. Once the user decides to repay the lease, the original assets are released from the smart contract.

Nolus's lending protocol includes many ways for customers to profit and enjoy convenient services. Here are the main DeFi products you can access through Nolus.

DeFi leasing on Nolus is designed to be as convenient as possible. Customers don’t have to go through a lengthy application or pay a lot of fees to other users. You just enter your collateral and get a loan of up to three times the value of the initial investment. Interest rates vary between 11% and 18%, based on the market value of the digital assets. The 

 allow the loan to be repaid on your own schedule. However, keep in mind that you pay more interest if you wait a longer amount of time to repay the loan.

If you want to earn money based on your existing crypto, you can join one of the many 

 on Nolus by submitting stablecoins in exchange for interest-bearing Nolus crypto. When you're ready to withdraw your funds and stop participating in DeFi leasing, you can cash out your Nolus tokens to receive your initial asset, plus any additional interest or network fees you’ve earned.

Nolus's system of money markets isn't the only thing they provide. Users who decide to 

 a crypto asset on Nolus can earn more money. The Nolus ecosystem offers the option of staking NLS tokens in exchange for various incentives. Lenders receive higher amounts of rewards for lending stablecoins, and borrowers get a lower interest rate.

Nolus has had some impressive growth since its launch in 2023. In just six months, the lending protocol has assisted with thousands of loans, collectively worth $8.6 million in total. Its team calculates that they've managed to achieve an average 

Nolus hopes to expand on this momentum in 2024. Its main plan is to continue marketing the lending protocol heavily, attracting more users who want to do their own research and find the best possible loans. To further attract users from the DeFi sector, Nolus aims to add more support for other crypto tokens and increase network liquidity. Nolus stands for community-led governance, so they don't have a long-term road map in place. Instead, they plan to evolve and adjust to suit whatever community needs arise in the future.

. It allows users to adjust their interest rates, and it's also a 

. People with NLS tokens can vote on how the platform is run and help implement new changes for the platform. The NLS token has a total supply of 1 billion. Nolus’s plan is to gradually mint tokens over a ten-year period, and implement a token buyback program to help maintain value. NLS token distribution will be as follows:

When the NLS token was released in the summer of 2023, Nolus prices were fairly stable. However, now that investors can sell their NLS tokens, prices have become more volatile. Starting in December 2023, NLS prices 

, and although the token currently seems to be dropping from its all-time high of $0.10, more price increases seem likely in the future.

Not only is the market for the NLS token quite bullish right now, but the Nolus lending protocol is also attracting a lot of positive attention in the crypto space. If the network can maintain its positive attention and attract more users, prices seem likely to rise even further. CoinCodex predicts Nolus prices will stay in the $0.04 to $0.19 range for 2025, and hit 

. This attitude is backed up by crypto influencers such as Crypto Revolution, 

 an underrated crypto with a lot of potential for growth.

The Nolus project is a well-thought-out crypto protocol that offers users significant advantages. Its innovative approach to lending could potentially attract a lot of users from the DeFi space. In addition to having a reliable system backed with effective technology and a detailed white paper, NLS digital assets have also experienced some promising growth patterns. The crypto asset has had a slow yet steady climb in price, and now that it's trending in crypto news, it seems poised to take off.

However, keep in mind that it's still important to 

 on digital assets. Some crypto investors might find it concerning that the Nolus project is mostly backed by marketers, instead of blockchain enthusiasts. There have also been some tech issues, such as the 

 that led to some unnecessary margin calls. Subsequent issues could limit price appreciation of its crypto assets. Therefore, it's necessary to approach Nolus with caution and not overextend your finances.

Nolus's DeFi lease system allows people to obtain easy access to crypto. Its innovative approach provides investors with significant advantages. Unlike traditional finance, there's no lengthy application process, and in contrast to many other blockchain networks Nolus doesn't have frequent margin calls or high network fees. As long as Nolus doesn't run into any technological issues or financial problems, its network is likely to have a lot of success in the DeFi space.

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Nolus (NLS): Crafting Liquidity's Future With Leading DeFi Leases

Bybit Learn

Altcoins

Crypto

Litecoin has always been a top crypto for various reasons. Here are the ins and outs of Litecoin. Dive in and decipher LTC's prospects.

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Little more than a decade has passed since the cryptocurrency market first emerged. Its growth has been exponential, with the market capitalization of Bitcoin alone surpassing $524 billion as of May 23, 2023. Even with the creation of thousands of cryptocurrencies aimed at solving various problems, Bitcoin has continued to dominate the market. 

, such as Litecoin, are still in use today, despite debates about their antiquated concept. Litecoin has recently attracted the market's attention once again due to its upcoming halving event.

Despite its lack of support for smart contracts, and characteristics largely similar to those of Bitcoin, Litecoin has remained in the top 20 cryptos in terms of

. More recently, Litecoin has managed to overtake Polkadot (and meme coin Shiba Inu) to claim number 13 on the list.

What is Litecoin — and why has its valuation remained so high among thousands of other cryptocurrencies? In this article, we’ll discuss what Litecoin is, its history and how it works.

The Litecoin network was founded on Oct 13, 2011, and was originally created as a fork of Bitcoin (BTC) to improve on three main issues faced by the Bitcoin network — speed, scalability and centralization.

Litecoin is designed to be an ideal digital assets payment method for merchants and consumers, providing instant transaction confirmations. It uses a

 (PoW) consensus to secure the network, similar to Bitcoin. However, the

 used by its network is different from that of Bitcoin. Litecoin uses 

, while Bitcoin uses SHA-256. This will be discussed in more detail.

Whenever miners complete a block, they earn LTC rewards. However, as with Bitcoin

, the mining rewards for Litecoin decrease over time. This mechanism is built into the Litecoin protocol to control the issuance rate and ensure a limited supply of the cryptocurrency. Based on the previous halving event on Aug 5, 2019, Litecoin now offers 12.5 LTC per completed block. The next halving event will take place around Aug 3, 2023, and will decrease mining rewards to 6.25 LTC per completed block. 

The upcoming Litecoin halving event has generated significant buzz and anticipation within the cryptocurrency community, especially since it’s just a couple of months away. Scheduled to occur at regular intervals of approximately four years, the halving event is an integral part of Litecoin's monetary policy. 

The primary implication of the Litecoin halving event is a reduction in the rate at which new Litecoins are created. This scarcity mechanism is designed to curb inflation by providing a deflationary aspect to the cryptocurrency. With each halving, the reward for miners diminishes, which may potentially impact their profitability. Consequently, this event has been known to trigger changes in the mining landscape, as miners reevaluate their strategies and assess the viability of their operations.

Historically, Litecoin halving events have had significant effects on the price and market sentiment surrounding the cryptocurrency. For example, in the months preceding its 2019 halving event, LTC price experienced a surge, growing from $30 in January to a high of $141.82 on Jun 23, 2019. 

Likewise, before its 2015 halving event, LTC price rose from a low of $1.45 in May to $7.66 on Jul 9, 2015.

Does Past Performance Indicate Future Results?

Previous halvings have often been associated with bullish trends, as reduced supply coupled with sustained demand has led to upward price movements. However, it’s crucial to note that past performance is not indicative of future results, and the cryptocurrency market is highly volatile and influenced by numerous factors.

As the next Litecoin halving event approaches, market participants and enthusiasts are eagerly observing its potential impact. Traders and investors closely monitor price movements and analyze market conditions to gauge the short- and long-term implications of the halving. 

Additionally, the event often generates renewed interest in Litecoin, attracting newcomers to the cryptocurrency space who wish to capitalize on potential price surges or explore the technology behind this established digital asset.

The upcoming Litecoin halving event represents an important milestone in the cryptocurrency's journey. The event's effects on mining profitability and market sentiment remain to be seen, but it is undoubtedly capturing the attention of the cryptocurrency community as they await the next chapter in Litecoin's development.

Litecoin was specifically designed to reduce the amount of time it takes to validate a new block, and to uphold storage efficiency. In this section, we’ll take a look at some of its properties.

Litecoin has a transaction processing speed of 54

, which is significantly higher than Bitcoin’s transaction processing speed of 5 TPS.

The block mining time for Litecoin is two and a half minutes, which is four times faster than the ten minutes it takes for Bitcoin to generate blocks. As a result, Litecoin’s network is able to achieve a higher throughput.

 is used to power Litecoin’s PoW consensus mechanism, giving the network a lower barrier to entry and allowing more individuals to participate in the Litecoin mining process. 

This contributes to the network’s decentralization, given that mining power is no longer concentrated among bigger players who can afford expensive equipment such as

The fee structure of Litecoin is 1/50th the size of Bitcoin’s, which drastically reduces transaction costs.

Litecoin’s Scrypt hashing is designed to be more secure than alternative functions against hardware brute-force attacks. Even after a decade, Litecoin hasn’t suffered any major exploits, demonstrating its reliability as a cryptocurrency.

 (MimbleWimble Extension Block) upgrade allows users to opt in as necessary to conduct private transactions, and transaction anonymity is guaranteed — so that a transaction amount is known only to the sender and receiver.

 to learn more about how Litecoin remains among the top 20 cryptocurrencies even after a decade.

Litecoin was founded in October 2011 by Charlie Lee, a computer science graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and former Google employee. Addressing Bitcoin’s slow transaction speed and lack of scalability, Lee decided to create a “lighter” version of Bitcoin that would facilitate faster transactions and greater scalability, along with lower transaction fees.

In 2013, Lee joined Coinbase as the Director of Engineering. When this news reached the market, the price of Litecoin increased tenfold, from $3 to $30.

When Litecoin's price peaked at €300 in December 2017, Lee

, undermining investor confidence and sparking rumors of Litecoin price manipulation. However, Lee made it clear that his concern for a potential conflict of interest as a result of his growing influence over Litecoin was the reason for his actions. More details can be found

Lee left Coinbase in 2017, and is currently heading the Litecoin Foundation, focused on the development of Litecoin.

Like Bitcoin, Litecoin operates on an open-source blockchain that isn't under the control of a single central authority. To ensure that new Litecoin transactions don’t contradict the blockchain's transaction history, each Litecoin node operator has a copy of every blockchain, and miners assist in processing new transactions by including them in recently mined blocks.

 of 84 million LTC on its total supply (four times that of Bitcoin).

Litecoin mining can result in orphaned blocks. When two miners complete a block at nearly the same time and the chain initially accepts both, but later rejects one, orphaned blocks are created. The low block confirmation time results in a large number of orphaned blocks. The Segregated Witness (

) protocol tackles this problem and reduces the number of orphaned blocks.

Litecoin uses a hashing algorithm called Scrypt. The Litecoin development team initially chose Scrypt to prevent ASIC miners from controlling mining. ASIC mining was initially less suited to the Scrypt mining algorithm's higher memory requirements, which increased opportunities for other miners, including those who used

 technology. However, ASIC-based mining with Scrypt support has evolved over time. Therefore, due to inferior computational capabilities, CPU- and GPU-based miners no longer possess useful LTC mining equipment, as ASICs produce significantly more hashes per second.

 facilitate the exchange of cryptocurrencies on different blockchains, or cross-chain trading. This adds interoperability to the Litecoin blockchain.

A pre-mine, which enables the developers of a blockchain-based cryptocurrency to mine coins before the project is made public, was largely avoided with Litecoin. Pre-mining was initially used to pay the project's founders and finance its creation.

Many community members at the time desired alternative currencies with a fair launch, similar to that of Bitcoin. When Litecoin first launched, Lee addressed these issues, stating that it’s "against the decentralized vision of Bitcoin" for one person or group to control a significant number of coins and use them however they see fit.

One week prior to Litecoin going live, Lee made its source and binary codes available so that users could test mine it. A poll on the Bitcointalk forum was used to choose the time of launch so that users could select the time that best suited them. Since everyone was aware of the launch date, and only needed to make a small change to their files to begin mining actual Litecoin, everyone was able to mine simultaneously.

However, Litecoin still had a modest pre-mine. The genesis block — that is, the first one on the network — was pre-mined with a total of 150 LTC, with two additional blocks mined to confirm its validity. The reward for mining one block when Litecoin first launched was 50 LTC, which was essentially worthless at the time.

In a blockchain, transaction data is stored in blocks. The block is made available to any system participant (referred to as a 

) who requests to see it. Litecoin miners verify the block by using mining software to solve difficult mathematical puzzles, in order to be granted permission to add new transactions to the blockchain. After a miner confirms the block, it’s added to the blockchain and the miner is rewarded with LTC.

Litecoin can be mined using ASIC mining devices with pre-installed mining software. On the other hand, if you're mining with a CPU or GPU you must choose your own program, while keeping security in mind. A software product might contain malware, and other shady, if not malicious, activities should also be on your radar. 

Once you've chosen your mining equipment, you’ll need to decide whether to mine alone or in a group. If you mine by yourself, you run the risk of going a long time without finding a block. However, if you succeed, you keep the entire LTC block reward, plus fees. Keep in mind that you can only achieve this if you have sufficient hash power, which requires multiple ASICs.

Furthermore, if you use a GPU or CPU to mine LTC on your own, there’s almost no chance that you’ll ever make any money. The benefits of pool mining outweigh those of solo mining, but the rewards are divided among the pool members according to the hash power they’ve contributed.

As of May 23, 2023, the two largest cryptocurrencies in the market are Bitcoin and Ethereum, accounting for 44.47% and 18.68% of

There are specific differences between Litecoin, Bitcoin and Ethereum, particularly in terms of consensus mechanism, security and scalability. To learn more, please refer to

You can trade Litecoin on most cryptocurrency exchanges, including Bybit. Bybit offers both the

 Perpetual Contracts. You can buy LTC with the USDT stablecoin via a Perpetual contract with leverage. Simply fund your verified account with USDT, or first convert another cryptocurrency to USDT. 

Even though Litecoin has been overshadowed by Bitcoin, it still ranks among the top 20 cryptocurrencies — even as thousands of new cryptos have been added. This is a good indicator of LTC’s strength. Furthermore, with the upcoming halving event, Litecoin is likely to gain even more traction in the crypto market. Given the highly capable technical team behind Litecoin, we can certainly look forward to seeing continued development and innovation. That said, we would still recommend you do your own research before investing any of your money in cryptocurrencies.

Explained: What Is Litecoin (LTC) and How Does It Work?

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