Litecoin was launched in 2011 by former Google engineer Charlie Lee.
Lee released Litecoin as a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency inspired by Bitcoin but designed with several different technical parameters. Litecoin used the Scrypt proof-of-work algorithm rather than Bitcoin’s SHA-256 algorithm, and its protocol targeted a shorter block interval of about 2.5 minutes.
Litecoin’s supply limit is 84 million coins, four times Bitcoin’s original 21-million limit. These differences helped Litecoin become one of the earliest widely recognized alternative cryptocurrencies. Its symbol is LTC.
Litecoin is sometimes confused with Dogecoin because both projects use Scrypt-based mining and became prominent early in cryptocurrency history. Dogecoin, however, was launched in 2013 by Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer and began as a separate project inspired by the Doge meme. Litecoin’s creator and launch date clearly distinguish it.