This cryptocurrency with 5,700% return in 2017 is giving serious competition to bitcoin!

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Digital currency Litecoin overtook IOTA and Ripple and became the fourth largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalisation after bitcoin, ethereum and bitcoin cash.

With market capitalisation of Rs 0.88 lakh crore, litecoin was trading at Rs 16,313 at around 10.55 am (IST), according to the data available with coingecko.com. In the international markets, the currency is hovering at around $253.

On a year-to-date basis, litecoin has surged over 5,700 per cent till December 12, whereas bitcoin has gained 1,550 per cent during the same period.

IOTA and ripple have market capitalisation of Rs 0.75 lakh crore and Rs 0.67 lakh crore. IOTA was trading at Rs 270.59, while Ripple was trading at Rs 17.28 at around the same time. IOTA represents a third generation of blockchain after the development of bitcoin and ethereum were developed. It actually isn’t a simple blockchain anymore, but rather a completely new concept.

Star of the year, bitcoin is hovering around Rs 10.73 lakh.

Below are the five things you should know about Litecoin:

a) Litecoin is a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency created by Charlie Lee. Lee is a former Google employee and Ex-Director of Engineering at Coinbase, one of the largest exchanges and the first to list litecoin alongside bitcoin and ethereum.

b) The Litecoin network is scheduled to cap at 84 million currency units.

c) Litecoin is very similar to bitcoin in its technical implementation. Generating new litecoins is possible through mining as well.

d) According to Deutsche Bank Wealth Management, Litecoin has an advantage in processing speed. Its 4x faster than bitcoin – a block is generated in 2.5 minutes. This keeps transaction costs low as they arise for faster confirmation of a transaction.

e) Litecoin is also based on an uncomplex algorithm, which allows miners to use less computing capacity for confirming a block, Deutsche Bank Wealth Management said in a report.