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Will Litecoin (LTC) boost adoption for Bitcoin’s Lightning Network?
While Bitcoin is the undisputed king of all cryptocurrencies, it’s frequently criticized because of the time it takes to complete a transaction, the lack of scalability and the vast amounts of power it takes to keep the blockchain going through mining.
That’s why the Lightning Network has been developed and deployed. It is a second layer for the Bitcoin blockchain and network which is meant to address the problems of speed and scalability and to increase every user’s privacy. Another notable innovation it brings is the Atomic Swaps.
The Atomic Swaps
Atomic Swaps allow converting your currencies from one to another. This is possible thanks to a smart contract technology known as hash-time locked contract (HTLC). This kind of contract ensures the safe exchange of currencies by enforcing pre-set parameters. The trade must be completed within a given time limit, and the transaction must be completed from both sides before any funds are released.
The main consequence of this protocol is that it eliminates the need for any central service, authority, arbiter or third party. It also helps to decentralize the coins involved in the HTLC because users don’t need to keep their currency stored in wallets or exchanges.
Let’s clarify one crucial feature of the Lighting Network. While it’s currently associated mainly with Bitcoin, it’s not specific to it at all; it’s just a layer of new protocols that can be integrated into any other blockchain which is excellent news for the community at large. Many other cryptocurrencies have already announced the intention to adopt the Lighting Network (Zcash, Decred, and Litecoin among others) to some degree.
Litecoin is, of course, a Bitcoin fork created by Charlie Lee, a former Google developer. Because it uses the same blockchain but it’s faster and lighter, the Litecoin blockchain has been used very often as a sandbox for Bitcoin. Mr. Lee was even the first person ever to complete an atomic swap last year.
Because of the close relationship and technical similarities, there are between BTC and LTC; the early users will find more advantages in using those two tokens to do atomic swaps. Mr. Lee said that,
“Litecoin will also be the easiest onramp onto the Lightning Network. BTC takes too long and fees to high? No problem. Open an LTC payment channel on chain cheaply and quickly, then atomically swap for BTC if/when you need to. This can be done in one step sing submarine swaps!”
Mr. Lee considers the Lighting Network’s functionality akin to a decentralized exchange because transactions can be carried out by any two parties in agreement without any third party or central authority. Litecoin’s creator added that the,
“Lightning Network will be the ultimate decentralized exchange. Users that are running LN on both BTC and LTC can advertise an exchange price and act as a maker earning a spread. Other users can act as a taker and atomically swap LTC/BTC with the maker node via lightning.”
The Lighting Network is a very promising protocol. It could just be the thing that solves many of the pending issues with the Bitcoin network and many others as well.
Because of its versatility, it can, and should, be adopted by many different blockchain networks and currencies. Adoption by several such projects would be a great benefit for the crypto community as a whole.
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Disclaimer: This article should not be taken as, and is not intended to provide, investment advice. Global Coin Report and/or its affiliates, employees, writers, and subcontractors are cryptocurrency investors and from time to time may or may not have holdings in some of the coins or tokens they cover. Please conduct your own thorough research before investing in any cryptocurrency and read our full disclaimer.
Image courtesy of Maxpixel.net
Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 25th January, 2021, // ChainWire //
Xeno Holdings Limited (xno.live ), a blockchain solutions company based in Hong Kong, has announced the listing of its ecosystem utility token XNO on the ‘Bithumb Korea’ cryptocurrency exchange on January 21st 2021.
Xeno NFT Hub (market.xno.live ), developed by Xeno Holdings, enables easy minting of digital items into NFTs while also providing a marketplace where anyone can securely trade NFTs.
The Xeno NFT Hub project team includes former members of the technology project Yosemite X based in San Francisco and professionals such as Gabby Dizon who is a games industry expert and NFT space influencer based in Southeast Asia.
NFT(Non-Fungible Token) technology has recently gained huge focus in the blockchain arena and beyond, making waves in the online gaming sector, the art world, and the digital copyrights industry in recent years. The strongest feature of NFTs is that “NFTs are unique digital assets that cannot be replaced or forged”. Unlike fungible tokens such as Bitcoin or Ether, NFTs are not interchangeable for other tokens of the same type but instead each NFT has a unique value and specific information that cannot be replaced. This fact makes NFTs the perfect solution to record and prove ownership of digital and real-world items like works of art, game items, limited-edition collectibles, and more. One of the ways to have a successful…
2020 has been an incredible year for crypto as investors have generated windfall profits and crypto projects have seen their businesses gain the spotlight they’ve been looking for. While Bitcoin has received most of the attention after major institutional investors announced they were accumulating the increasingly scarce asset, many altcoins have also seen their fair share of glory. When looking at all the big winners of the past year, the first project that probably comes to mind is Chainlink, having appreciated by more than 550% YTD and now valued at over $4.5 billion. But, the actual biggest winner of the year is HEX with a YTD return of over 5,000%.
I mention both of the above projects as they have each taken slightly different paths to achieve greatness. Chainlink has devoted resources toward building a fundamentally sound business with many strategic partnerships while HEX has spent vast sums of money on marketing and promotion. Both approaches are valid, but one thing is certain, it is absolutely imperative for crypto projects to let the crypto community know what makes them special. Of course, one of the reasons that makes crypto so valuable is the powerful blockchain technology that most projects are utilizing.
Cryptocurrency vs. Blockchain Technology
It’s important to make a distinction between blockchain technology and cryptocurrency. Although they are often used interchangeably, they are different. Blockchain technology and crypto were both created after the 2008 financial crisis, but cryptocurrency…
Altcoins
XENO starts VIP NFT trading service and collaborates with contemporary artist Hiro Yamagata
Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 24th December, 2020, // ChainWire //
The XENO NFT Hub (https://xno.live) will provide a crypto-powered digital items and collectables trading platform allowing users to create, buy, and sell NFTs. Additionally it will support auction based listings, governance and voting mechanisms, trade history tracking, user rating and other advanced features.
As a first step towards its fully comprehensive service, XENO NFT Hub launched a recent VIP service to select users and early adopters in December 2020 with plans for a full Public Beta to open in June 2021.
“NFTs are extremely flexible in their usage, from digital event tickets to artwork, and while NFTs have a very wide spectrum of uses and categories XENO will initially focus its partnership efforts and its own item curation on three primary areas: gaming, sports & entertainment, and collectibles.”, said XENO NFT Hub president Anthony Di Franco.
He also added “This does not mean we will prohibit other types of NFTs from our ecosystem However, it simply means that XENO’s efforts as a company will be targeted into these verticals initially as a cohesive business approach.”
Development and Procurement Lead, Gabby Dizon explained, “Despite our initial focus, we found ourselves with a unique opportunity to host some of the works of Mr. Hiro Yamagata. We are collaborating with Japanese artist Hiro Yamagata to enshrine some of his artwork into NFTs.”
Mr. Yamagata has…
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