What is Ethereum 2.0?

What is Ethereum? 

Ethereum was created in 2015 by computer programmers including Vitalik Buterin.

"Vitalik" Buterin is one of the
co-founders of Ethereum

It is a decentralized computing platform that has smart contract capabilities that allow a variety of decentralized applications to be built on the network. Similar to Bitcoin, Ethereum is an open-source, decentralized project used to make peer-to-peer payments, but it is much more than that.

Developers can execute smart contracts and build databases for decentralized finance, or DeFi; nonfungible tokens, or NFTs; and gaming. These applications are not possible on the Bitcoin network. Ethereum, like Bitcoin, uses the proof-of-work, or PoW, protocol to keep the decentralized network running and maintain the integrity of the platform's operations.

Ethereum's transactions tend to be processed faster than Bitcoin's, but this comes with higher "gas fees" that users have to pay. Gas fees compensate network participants who validate transactions on the platform. These fees can be costly to new investors, even for small transaction amounts. 

Ethereum 2.0

The crypto market is patiently awaiting the rollout of Ethereum 2.0, a more energy-efficient and cost-effective model that uses the proof-of-stake, or PoS, protocol instead of PoW. The transition to PoS will allow the network to support more transactions per second to make the network more scalable.

"The blockchain behind the second-largest cryptocurrency, Ether, will soon undergo a highly anticipated upgrade that may lead to more institutional investors putting money in the network and help lift Ether's price," says Eloisa Marchesoni, a crypto entrepreneur and public speaker. 

While Bitcoin today is the largest crypto by market value, Marchesoni says, Ether could become the leader after its infrastructure upgrade, also called the "Merge," marking the end of the proof-of-work for Ethereum.

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A BIG, key difference between Litecoin and Bitcoin...

 

About Litecoin

Litecoin (LTC) is one of the earliest "altcoins," or alternative versions of Bitcoin, that rose to prominence and has remained popular ever since. It was designed to be cheaper to use and faster to confirm in transactions, important for both customers and merchants if crypto is to become widely accepted as a currency.

Crypto transactions happen all the time but are confirmed at intervals, kind of like when you use a credit card and see the charges as pending until a later date. Litecoin transactions are confirmed every 2.5 minutes, four times faster than the 10 minutes required for Bitcoin transactions.

Litecoin also has four times the supply limit of Bitcoin (84 million vs 21 million) -- nearly every crypto is designed with a fixed supply to avoid devaluing the currency. This difference in supply is the reason why Litecoin is often considered the silver to Bitcoin's gold, since the values of those precious metals are largely based on scarcity.

Quick facts

• Using the experimental accelerator called Lightning Network, litecoins travelled from Zurich to San Francisco in less than 1 second.

• The total number of Litecoins that can ever exist is 84 million. This might seem like a lot, but for perspective there are over 12 billion $1 bills in circulation today.

Worth searching online to learn more about Litecoin:

• Lightning Network 

• Crypto supply limit 

• Litecoin Foundation