Litecoin vs Bitcoin Cash, what is the difference?

Litecoin vs Bitcoin Cash is a comparison of two coins that both grew out of Bitcoin and both pitch themselves for low-cost payments. They took different routes there. Litecoin changed Bitcoin's settings from day one, while Bitcoin Cash split from Bitcoin years later to make blocks much bigger.

How did Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash start?

Litecoin launched in October 2011 as a new coin built from Bitcoin's code. It started its own blockchain from scratch, so no one received LTC for holding bitcoin.

Bitcoin Cash began on August 1, 2017, at block 478,558, according to its official site. It was a hard fork, so it shares Bitcoin's history before that date. The Grayscale Bitcoin Cash Trust filing says the split came from a dispute over how to scale Bitcoin. The full story is in Bitcoin vs Bitcoin Cash.

How does Bitcoin Cash vs Litecoin design compare?

Mining. Litecoin uses the Scrypt algorithm. Bitcoin Cash kept Bitcoin's proof-of-work design, which Trezor notes uses SHA-256. That means Bitcoin Cash competes with Bitcoin for the same mining machines, while Litecoin shares miners with Dogecoin through merged mining.

Speed. Litecoin targets a block every 2.5 minutes. Bitcoin Cash scales by fitting more into each block rather than by making blocks more frequent.

Block size. Since May 15, 2024, Bitcoin Cash uses an adaptive block size limit that grows and shrinks with how full recent blocks are. The Grayscale filing describes a baseline of 32 MB. Litecoin kept Bitcoin's smaller block approach and adopted SegWit in 2017.

Supply. Litecoin caps supply at 84 million, with the next halving to 3.125 LTC expected around July 2027. Bitcoin Cash caps supply at 21 million. The Grayscale filing says its block reward is 3.125 BCH, with the next halving expected in 2028.

How do Bitcoin Cash vs Litecoin fees compare?

Both use Bitcoin's fee model. The sender pays a fee based on transaction size, and the miner who adds the block collects it. The Bitcoin Cash site says a typical transaction costs under one cent. Trezor describes Litecoin fees as relatively low. Real costs depend on demand, the wallet and any exchange withdrawal charges.

What else separates them, and where does Bitcoin fit?

Each has added different features. Litecoin activated MWEB in May 2022, an optional layer that hides transaction amounts. Bitcoin Cash launched CashTokens in 2023, which lets users create fungible tokens and NFTs directly on its chain.

Governance is similar. Both filings say no single group controls the network, and changes only stick if users and miners adopt them. Bitcoin Cash says several independent teams build separate node software.

Bitcoin itself sits between them. It shares Bitcoin Cash's 21 million cap and SHA-256 mining, but kept a much smaller block limit and activated SegWit, the Grayscale filing notes. Its speed and fees compared with Litecoin are covered in the Litecoin vs Bitcoin guide. All three remain volatile and can lose much of their value.