Litecoin vs Bitcoin Cash: Comparing Two Bitcoin Offshoots With Divergent Goals

Compare Litecoin’s faster, lower-cost transactions and Bitcoin Cash’s commitment to better scalability and peer-to-peer payments.

Introduction

While Bitcoin (BTC) was the first cryptocurrency with a decentralised public ledger, called a blockchain, every altcoin owes something to it. However, some altcoins were created by forking Bitcoin, incorporating elements of Satoshi Nakamoto’s code into their protocols. These tokens are inevitably compared to Bitcoin, but comparing them to each other is also interesting.

Litecoin (LTC) is widely seen today as the first altcoin. Its founder, Charlie Lee, envisioned LTC as the lighter, faster version of BTC and copied its source code as a base. In Lee’s mind, Litecoin would be the silver to Bitcoin’s gold, with developers encouraged to contribute to both.

Bitcoin Cash (BCH) arose from disagreements about Bitcoin’s scalability and activation of the Segregated Witness (SegWit) protocol upgrade. A group led by Roger Ver argued that SegWit contradicted Nakamoto’s vision by favouring those using Bitcoin as a digital store of value over a means of exchange. The dispute led to a hard fork in August 2017, splintering BCH from the original BTC.

Below, we look at why two Bitcoin offshoots took very different paths.

Key Differences Between LTC and BCH

Litecoin Overview

LTC is a pure peer-to-peer internet currency that enables instant payments to anyone in the world at nearly zero cost. Charlie Lee launched Litecoin in October 2011 by copying Bitcoin’s source code and adjusting its payment confirmation schedule and cryptographic algorithm, creating a faster blockchain with lower transaction fees. Lee mined Litecoin early on, but has sold off his holdings, leaving LTC’s management to its decentralised community.

Litecoin’s most significant innovation is the Scrypt hashing algorithm. Lee replaced Bitcoin’s SHA-256 algorithm because he feared the centralisation of mining through Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) rigs. While initially effective, the endeavour failed when Scrypt-compatible ASIC rigs arrived in 2014. Scrypt’s greatest benefit may be ‘merged mining’ with other tokens like Dogecoin (DOGE), allowing multiple Scrypt networks to share hashrate to enhance security.

Litecoin’s network has launched numerous upgrades since its start. Developers added support for Layer-2 blockchains like Bitcoin’s Lightning Network in 2018, mirroring SegWit. ‘MimbleWimble Extension Blocks’ (MWEB) is the most considerable upgrade in Litecoin’s history, aiming to provide fungibility for all while improving scalability. OmniLite is a layered protocol built on Litecoin’s blockchain to add smart contracts, decentralised finance (DeFi), and non-fungible token (NFT) functionality.

Check out Litecoin’s current value and recent price trends.

Bitcoin Cash Overview

Bitcoin transactions were becoming increasingly unreliable and expensive by 2016. SegWit was a popular solution but didn’t address the rising cost of transactions. Roger Ver and his allies proposed increasing the size of blocks on Bitcoin’s blockchain, which were one megabyte (MB). Ver’s group proposed an immediate increase to eight MB with further increases in the future.

Neither SegWit supporters nor Ver’s group would back down, leading to the Bitcoin blockchain’s hard fork on 1 August 2017 and the creation of Bitcoin Cash. All BTC holders automatically received an equivalent amount of the new BCH token, and the two digital assets would compete for hashrate and community attention. Bitcoin Cash launched with an eight MB block size limit (now up to 32 MB), making it a more effective means of exchange than BTC. However, Bitcoin retained most of its hashpower and community.

Meanwhile, Ver’s group fractured. First, crypto enthusiast and Satoshi Nakamoto claimant Craig Wright argued that Bitcoin Cash lost sight of Satoshi’s Vision (SV). Ver couldn’t placate him, and Bitcoin Cash was split into Bitcoin Cash ABC (BCHA) and the new Bitcoin SV (BSV).

Check out Bitcoin Cash’s current value and recent price trends.

Ecosystem Comparison: LTC and BCH

Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash’s Consensus Mechanisms

Litecoin utilises a Proof of Work (PoW) consensus mechanism using the Scrypt hashing algorithm, where miners compete to solve mathematical puzzles, with the winner earning the right to add a new block to the blockchain and claim a block reward. The initial block reward was 50 LTC, halved every four years to reduce how many new tokens are minted. Miners will receive compensation exclusively through transaction fees once the 84 million LTC supply is mined.

Bitcoin Cash also uses a PoW consensus mechanism based on Bitcoin’s SHA-256 algorithm. Miners win a block by solving mathematical puzzles, collecting transaction fees and a set block reward for their efforts. BCH copied BTC’s tokenomics, so mining rewards are halved every four years and dry up entirely once 21 million BCH are mined.

Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash’s Scalability

LTC and BCH are more scalable than Bitcoin per design. Bitcoin’s network averages about seven transactions per second (tps), while Litecoin averages 54 tps, and Bitcoin Cash theoretically handles over 100 tps, though lack of economic activity reduces that figure.

Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash prioritise scalability compared to Bitcoin, but they’re still slow by today’s standards. Proof of Stake (PoS) protocols like Solana (SOL) and Avalanche (AVAX) handle thousands of transactions per second, while large payment processors like Visa process tens of thousands. PoW is secure but represents a significant obstacle to scalability.

Tokenomics Comparison

Litecoin Use Cases

LTC is the Litecoin network’s native cryptocurrency for transaction fees and miner compensation. It also gains new uses as developers expand network functionality. For instance, LTC holders can buy NFTs on OmniLite or send transactions to Litecoin’s Lightning Network.

Many crypto traders see LTC as a secure digital value store due to its hard cap of 84 million tokens, and frequently buy and sell the token on trustworthy exchanges like Crypto.com. Litecoin is an established altcoin with relatively high liquidity, allowing holders to purchase other tokens or fiat currencies like US dollars.

Bitcoin Cash Use Cases

BCH is the native token of the Bitcoin Cash ecosystem and used for transaction fees and miner compensation, but it lacks functionality beyond that. It is a secure store of value thanks to copying Bitcoin’s tokenomics, and many exchanges support it.

However, BCH’s lower liquidity leads to a higher spread when exchanging for fiat or other cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin Cash also doesn’t have an NFT marketplace or smart contract capabilities, and developers aren’t actively releasing fresh decentralised applications (dapps) on the network.

Key Pricing Moments

Most established cryptocurrencies have volatile price histories categorised by epic highs and deep lows, and both LTC and BCH fit the trend. Below is a brief timeline of each token’s price history.

Litecoin — Key Price Events

Bitcoin Cash — Key Price Events

Developments and Roadmaps: LTC and BCH

Litecoin’s Roadmap

Litecoin is promoted by the Litecoin Foundation but governed by its community, so most upgrades result from independent developers rather than centralised teams. Litecoin’s current roadmap includes projects like ‘atomic swaps’, expanding Litecoin’s interoperability with other protocols, and Litecoin Space (a block explorer providing information on mempool transactions — LTC transfers that have yet to be confirmed). Litecoin also strives for increased merchant acceptance and community awareness.

Bitcoin Cash’s Roadmap

Bitcoin Cash is a permissionless network managed by a decentralised community, so any formal roadmap would be limited by the broader community’s willingness to adhere to it. Thus, Bitcoin Cash doesn’t have an official roadmap. That said, individual developers and teams can make upgrades with community support. Potential projects include increasing BCH’s block size to expedite transaction processing and aggressive marketing to grow the token’s user base.

Conclusion

Both LTC and BCH are BTC optimised as a medium of exchange, and it’s difficult to pick between them. LTC has the advantage in average transactions per second, but BCH is theoretically faster. Litecoin is more established, but Bitcoin Cash includes the recognisable Bitcoin branding. Both tokens are backed by known names in the crypto community (Charlie Lee for Litecoin, Roger Ver for Bitcoin Cash), yet neither has realised its mission yet.

Developers will favour Litecoin since OmniLite supports smart contracts and dapps. Merchants might prefer Litecoin’s relative price stability, while speculators might go for Bitcoin Cash’s price upside potential or Litecoin’s more affordable entry point.

Always research a cryptocurrency’s price history, community, development team, and trajectory before considering a purchase.

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