Buy & Swap Litecoin (LTC)

$128.40+2.12% (24h)LTC network

Litecoin (LTC) can be swapped instantly on SwapRocket — no account, no KYC and zero added fees. Compare live LTC rates from every connected provider and receive funds in your own wallet in minutes.

Swap LTC instantly — no KYC

LTC / USD — 24H chart

ChangeHighLow

Live market data · extended history unavailable for this asset

24h2.12%

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1y—

Litecoin statistics

Market cap$9.6B

Fully diluted market cap—

24h volume$700M

Circulating supply75.00M LTC

Max supply∞

Total supply—

All-time high$410.00

Market dominance—

Rank—

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Non-custodial

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About Litecoin (LTC)

Layer-1 blockchain

Litecoin (LTC) is a Layer-1 blockchain — a base network with its own consensus, validators, and native coin (LTC) used to pay fees and secure the chain. Developers build applications directly on it, and LTC is the asset that powers the whole ecosystem.

How does Litecoin work?

The Litecoin network is maintained by a distributed set of participants who validate transactions and add them to the blockchain. LTC is required to pay for transactions and, on many networks, to stake and help secure the chain in exchange for rewards.

What is LTC used for?

LTC pays network fees, can often be staked for yield, and serves as the core unit of value across apps built on Litecoin. Demand for LTC tends to track activity and adoption on the network itself.

How to buy or swap LTC on SwapRocket

Pick LTC as the asset you want to receive.
Choose which crypto you're paying with.
SwapRocket compares every connected exchange and surfaces the best rate.
Paste your wallet address and confirm — funds arrive in minutes.

Litecoin (LTC) swap profile

This profile explains how Litecoin swaps work on SwapRocket: the network LTC settles on, what an exchange costs, how long it usually takes, and which pairs are published. Rates are aggregated live from every connected provider and shown in full before you commit to anything.

LTC key facts

Ticker: LTC
Settlement network: LTC
Category: Layer-1 blockchain
Custody: Non-custodial — coins move from the provider straight to your wallet
Cost to you: Zero added fees; you see the provider rate
Verification: No KYC for crypto-to-crypto swaps
Typical completion: Most swaps finish in under 10 minutes
Rate options: Best rate, fastest route or fixed rate
Published pairs: 8 published LTC pairs

How a LTC swap works

Enter the amount you want to exchange, pick the asset on the other side, and SwapRocket queries every connected exchange partner at once. You choose an offer, paste the wallet address that should receive the funds, and send LTC to the deposit address shown. The partner executes the trade and pays out to your address — SwapRocket never holds your coins, and there is no account to create before you start.

Choosing a rate for LTC

Three offers are presented for every LTC exchange. The best rate returns the largest amount for the size you entered. The fastest route favours the partner with the shortest expected settlement time, which matters when the market is moving. The fixed rate locks the quoted amount for the duration of the order, so what you are shown is what arrives, at the cost of a slightly smaller payout. Floating offers can move with the market between deposit and settlement.

Networks and addresses for LTC

Litecoin settles on LTC. Always send from and to an address on that network: a deposit sent over a different chain cannot be recovered by the exchange partner. When an asset exists on several chains, pick the matching network in the widget before copying the deposit address, and send a small test amount first if you are unsure.

Popular LTC pairs

Each pair below has its own page with a live quote, the current rate and the limits that apply to that route.

What is LTC? · Sourced guide · Updated 2026-09-22 · 11 sources cited

What becomes possible when Bitcoin's transaction model is kept, but its clock and mining work are changed?

Litecoin did not try to replace Bitcoin's basic transaction model with a new philosophy. It changed a small number of parameters to explore a practical question: could the same peer-to-peer design confirm everyday transfers sooner and support a separate mining ecosystem? The answer has evolved. Faster blocks became a durable part of Litecoin's identity, while Scrypt mining eventually attracted specialised machines of its own. The useful story is how a deliberately modest fork became a long-running network, a proving ground for compatible upgrades and a practical route for moving value.

A recognisable design with a different rhythm

Charlie Lee announced Litecoin in October 2011 with source code available before launch and no premine. The chain retained Bitcoin's unspent-transaction-output model, fixed issuance schedule and proof-of-work structure, but targeted a block every two and a half minutes rather than every ten. Its halving interval and maximum supply were scaled by four so the broad monetary cadence remained familiar despite the faster clock.

That shorter interval was intended to reduce the wait for an initial confirmation. It does not make each block carry four times the certainty: faster blocks propagate through the network more often, so services can sensibly ask for more Litecoin confirmations than Bitcoin confirmations. The practical gain is that several confirmations can still arrive in a shorter wall-clock period, a useful balance for payments and exchanges.^{[1], [2], [3]}

Scrypt created a separate mining lane

Litecoin replaced Bitcoin's SHA-256 hashing with Scrypt, a memory-hard function derived from Colin Percival's work. At launch, the choice made it practical to mine Litecoin on general-purpose hardware while Bitcoin mining was moving toward specialised equipment. It also meant the two networks did not compete for exactly the same machines, allowing a separate proof-of-work economy to develop around Litecoin.

Scrypt did not make specialisation impossible. Purpose-built Scrypt miners reached the market, and Litecoin's developers chose not to keep changing algorithms to chase them away. That decision traded the original accessibility goal for continuity: miners could invest in a known rule set, while the network avoided repeated consensus changes. Scrypt's lasting role is now less about resisting hardware and more about anchoring a mature mining ecosystem shared with other compatible chains.^{[3], [4], [5]}

One body of work can secure two chains

Dogecoin adopted auxiliary proof of work in 2014, allowing Scrypt miners to submit the same proof toward both Litecoin and Dogecoin blocks. The chains remain independent: they have separate ledgers, coins and consensus histories. What they share is mining effort. A miner can help secure both without splitting the underlying hash work between them.

Merged mining became an important extension of Litecoin's original choice to occupy a different hashing lane from Bitcoin. It deepened the economic use of Scrypt equipment and gave Dogecoin access to the larger mining base. The arrangement is mutually reinforcing, although it also means the health and incentives of the two Scrypt ecosystems are connected rather than isolated.^{[6], [7]}

A compatible proving ground

Because Litecoin stays close to Bitcoin's architecture, developers have repeatedly used it to test compatible ideas in a live setting. Segregated Witness activated on Litecoin in 2017 before Bitcoin, separating signature data and fixing transaction malleability in a way that enabled cleaner payment-channel constructions. The same compatibility supported early public atomic swaps between Litecoin and other UTXO chains, demonstrating exchange without a custodial intermediary.

Litecoin later added MimbleWimble Extension Blocks, or MWEB, as an opt-in route for confidential amounts and improved fungibility. Keeping it in extension blocks allowed the transparent base chain to continue while users who choose compatible wallets can use the additional transaction format. It is a measured pattern: preserve the dependable core, then add optional capabilities around it.^{[8], [9], [10], [11]}

The trade-offs in a faster, conservative chain

A shorter block interval improves responsiveness but gives each block less time to propagate, so confirmation policies should reflect elapsed time and value rather than simply copying Bitcoin's block count. Scrypt mining also became specialised despite its early accessibility goal. Litecoin kept the algorithm because stable rules and accumulated mining investment can themselves contribute to security.

MWEB is optional, which preserves compatibility but means its privacy properties do not cover every transaction. Some services support only ordinary Litecoin deposits. The useful high-level lesson is that Litecoin's additions tend to preserve a simple base rather than force every participant into a new mode at once.^{[5], [10]}

What this means when you swap LTC

Litecoin deposits normally need no memo or destination tag. Modern addresses may begin with ltc1, while older supported formats begin with L or M. Similar ancestry does not make Litecoin and Bitcoin addresses or networks interchangeable, so verify both the ticker and the selected network before sending.

Blocks target two and a half minutes, but a receiving service may require several confirmations. Standard exchange deposit routes generally expect transparent Litecoin outputs; confirm support before sending through MWEB. Fees are paid in LTC and depend on transaction size and current relay conditions rather than the amount being transferred.

Sources and evidence (11)

[1] Litecoin was announced in October 2011 with source available before launch and no premine. BitcoinTalk — Litecoin announcement · 2011-10-09 · verified 2026-09-22 Confirmed
[2] Litecoin Core remains an open-source UTXO cryptocurrency implementation derived from Bitcoin's codebase. GitHub — litecoin-project/litecoin · verified 2026-09-22 Confirmed
[3] Litecoin uses Scrypt proof of work, targets 2.5-minute blocks and retargets difficulty every 2,016 blocks. Litecoin Learning Center — Proof of Work · verified 2026-09-22 Confirmed
[4] Scrypt was designed as a memory-hard key-derivation function, making memory access part of its computational cost. Colin Percival — Stronger Key Derivation Via Sequential Memory-Hard Functions · 2009-05 · verified 2026-09-22 Confirmed
[5] Commercial Scrypt-specific mining hardware appeared by 2014, ending Scrypt's period as a practical barrier to specialised machines. Bitcoin Magazine — ASICs for Litecoin · 2014-03-14 · verified 2026-09-22 Confirmed
[6] Auxiliary proof of work lets compatible miners reuse proof across a parent and auxiliary chain while the chains retain separate ledgers. Dogecoin developer case study — Forking a Major Altcoin · 2014 · verified 2026-09-22 Confirmed
[7] Dogecoin Core 1.8 activated auxiliary proof of work at block 371,337 in September 2014. GitHub — Dogecoin Core v1.8.0 · 2014-09-11 · verified 2026-09-22 Confirmed
[8] Segregated Witness activated on Litecoin in May 2017. Litecoin Core project — SegWit activation · 2017-05-10 · verified 2026-09-22 Confirmed
[9] An on-chain atomic swap between Decred and Litecoin was completed and documented in September 2017. Decred — On-Chain Atomic Swaps · 2017-09-20 · verified 2026-09-22 Confirmed
[10] Litecoin's MimbleWimble Extension Blocks provide an opt-in transaction route with confidential amounts. Litecoin — MWEB activation · 2022-05-20 · verified 2026-09-22 Confirmed
[11] Litecoin Core v0.21.2 included MWEB consensus rules and wallet support. Litecoin Project — Core v0.21.2 release · 2022-05-08 · verified 2026-09-22 Confirmed

Profile last reviewed 2026-09-22. Historical background only — not investment advice.

Fees and pricing

Zero added fees: SwapRocket does not add a platform fee, a minimum or a withdrawal charge — the rate you see is the rate you get. Blockchain network fees are shown in full before you confirm, and the final amount you receive is quoted up front.

SwapRocket does not add a separate fee or markup to the provider quote. SwapRocket may earn a commission from the liquidity provider when a completed swap is referred through our platform. Provider spreads and applicable network costs are reflected in the quoted amount.

Network fees are set by the blockchain, not by SwapRocket. No account, no subscription and no withdrawal charge. Live support is available 24/7.

LTC swap FAQ

How do I swap Litecoin (LTC) instantly on SwapRocket?

Pick LTC as the asset you want to receive, choose what you're paying with, paste your wallet address, and confirm. SwapRocket hands your order to the provider whose quote pays out the most at that moment, and most swaps complete in under 10 minutes — no SwapRocket account needed.

Can I swap LTC with no KYC?

No SwapRocket account or identity documents are needed to start a crypto-to-crypto swap of LTC. The provider that executes the swap may still request identity verification or hold a swap for review under its own AML and sanctions policy, regardless of amount. Selling to a bank account goes through a regulated payment partner that verifies the payer; card purchases on SwapRocket are coming soon.

Is swapping Litecoin on SwapRocket non-custodial?

Yes. SwapRocket never holds your funds. The provider that executes the swap receives your deposit, holds it only for the duration of the swap, and sends LTC to the wallet address you provide.

Which network does LTC use here?

SwapRocket supports Litecoin on the LTC network. Always double-check that your receiving wallet supports this network before confirming.

What fees apply when I swap LTC?

SwapRocket adds no fee or markup to the provider's quote and may earn a commission from the provider on a completed swap. The provider's spread and any network cost it deducts on delivery are already reflected in the LTC amount shown; the network fee your own wallet charges to send the deposit is separate. Spreads vary by provider, pair and size, so compare the quoted receive amount.

More on fees, limits, KYC and timing: read the full crypto swap FAQ.