Litecoin was first launched on October 13, 2011, by Charlie Lee, a former Google engineer. It gained popularity through several factors:Technological Improvements: Litecoin was one of the early cryptocurrencies to use the Scrypt hashing algorithm, which made it more accessible for miners using consumer-grade hardware. This distinguished it from Bitcoin, which used SHA-256.Faster Transaction Confirmation: Litecoin's block generation time is about 2.5 minutes, compared to Bitcoin's 10 minutes. This made Litecoin transactions faster and more suitable for everyday use.Active Development: Charlie Lee and a community of developers have consistently worked on improving Litecoin's technology and security.Segregated Witness (SegWit): Litecoin was one of the first major cryptocurrencies to activate Segregated Witness, a technology aimed at improving the scalability and security of blockchain networks.Liquidity and Exchange Support: Litecoin became readily available on major cryptocurrency exchanges, which boosted its liquidity and accessibility.Market Acceptance: Over time, Litecoin gained wider acceptance in various online and offline markets, including as a means of payment and as a trading pair on exchanges.All these factors contributed to Litecoin's popularity and its position as one of the top cryptocurrencies in the market.
