Litecoin 2.0 Explained: Here's What To Expect

Litecoin’s upcoming MimbleWimble upgrade is set to enhance the token’s scalability and privacy. According to Litecoin creator Charlie Lee, MimbleWimble will allow Litecoin to scale better than Monero or Z-cash, two of the most well-known privacy coins.

Mimblewimble is a blockchain protocol that aims to improve blockchain stability, fungibility, and privacy. Named after the tongue-tying curse in the Harry Potter series that prevents a person from talking about a specific topic, MimbleWimble implements a “blinding factor” that encrypts the transaction using both the sender and the receiver’s public and private keys. The blinding factor replaces the addresses and only the sender and the receiver know the parties in the transaction.

Mimblewimble on Litecoin will only be implemented in its own extension block, and will not affect the cryptocurrency’s main layer. Because of that, Lee said the “hidden inflation bug”, which affects other privacy coins will be a “manageable risk” in the Litecoin network. The hidden inflation bug allows hackers to counterfeit coins in the unsecured blockchain.

Speaking with Cointelegraph, Lee touched upon the sentiment of some users who feel Litecoin is a “boring coin” compared to Bitcoin and others. In 2019, Litecoin went through its 2nd halving, and to the disappointment of many, the coin did not move a lot or experience volatility similar to that of Bitcoin.

Lee argued, however, that this is actually an advantage because “build fast and break things” is not good for money. “You want money to be stable and you want it to work. Litecoin has worked flawlessly over the past 9 years,” he added. Being boring does not mean there is no active development in Litecoin. Lee argued that since he, the creator, is still around, Litecoin upgrades happen faster.

Eventually, Lee said, he plans to step down and step away from the blockchain and coin he created. “Over time, as Litecoin becomes more used, there’s less reason for me to stick around,” further explaining that at that point, the creator still being around might do more harm than good. However, he said he would still be working on cryptocurrency even after Litecoin.