Bitcoin (BTC) vs Litecoin (LTC): comparison
Side-by-side comparison of Bitcoin and Litecoin: how their prices moved, how they differ technically and what each is used for.
BTC and LTC: key specs
| Bitcoin (BTC) | Litecoin (LTC) | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $77,811.00 | $54.03 |
| Ticker | BTC | LTC |
| Type | native blockchain coin | native blockchain coin |
| Launched | 2009 | 2011 |
| Created by | Satoshi Nakamoto | Charlie Lee |
| Consensus | Proof of Work (SHA-256) | Proof of Work (Scrypt) |
| Block time | ~10 min | ~2.5 min |
| Max supply | 21 M BTC | 84 M LTC |
| Transaction privacy | public transactions | public transactions |
| Circulating supply | 20.08 M BTC | 77.6 M LTC |
| Market cap | $1.56 T | $4.19 B |
| Market cap rank | #1 | #25 |
CoinGecko data as of Sep 11, 2026, 20:34. How we calculate the data
Price change: BTC vs LTC
Both prices are set to 100 at the start of the period, so the chart shows which coin grew or fell more, not the prices themselves.
| Period | BTC | LTC |
|---|---|---|
| 7 days | −4.84% | +3.12% |
| 30 days | +21.71% | +16.78% |
| 90 days | +20.06% | +19.79% |
The correlation of their daily price changes over the last 90 days is 0.72 (strong).
BTC or LTC: what each is used for
- Long-term store of valueBitcoin
- Payments and transfersLitecoin
How Bitcoin and Litecoin work
How Bitcoin works
The network uses Proof of Work with the SHA-256 algorithm: miners compete to add a new block roughly every 10 minutes and receive newly issued coins plus fees. Every 210,000 blocks (about four years) the block reward is cut in half, which slows issuance until the 21 million cap is reached. Balances are tracked as unspent transaction outputs (UTXO).
What Bitcoin is used for
Bitcoin is mostly held as a long-term store of value and used as the base asset of the crypto market: most trading pairs, indices and derivatives are priced against it. It is also used for cross-border transfers and, through the Lightning Network, for small fast payments.
How Litecoin works
Litecoin uses Proof of Work with the Scrypt algorithm and produces a block about every 2.5 minutes — four times more often than Bitcoin. The supply is capped at 84 million coins and the reward halves roughly every four years. Since 2022 the optional MWEB extension allows confidential transactions.
What Litecoin is used for
LTC is used for fast, inexpensive transfers and payments, and as a way to move value between exchanges when Bitcoin fees are high.