Litecoin Sees Fake, But Overhyped Fork, Possibly a Scam
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In the past days, Charlie Lee had warned of fork scams coming to Litecoin.
Litecoin has been seen as a "boring" crypto coin - but this time, the unassuming asset will see its first major and over-hyped "hard fork". The move is mystifying, given that the Litecoin community has built general consensus and the project develops without major disagreements.
Hard Fork Confusion
The confusion about hard forks stems from the fact that two projects under the name of Litecoin Cash coexist and reach out to potential backers. At this moment, theLitecoin Cash SHA-256fork is preparing to launch. At the same time, a digital asset of the ERC-20 variety already exists and is distributed via airdrops, but is unrelated to the network history of Litecoin.
Litecoin Community Dislikes Forks
The creator of Litecoin, Charlie Lee, believes there is no need for a technological fork, and the upcoming projects or announcements may be a scam:
"PSA: The Litecoin team and I are not forking Litecoin. Any forks that you hear about is a scam trying to confuse you to think it's related to Litecoin. Don't fall for it and definitely don't enter your private keys or seed into their website or client. Be careful out there!https://t.co/qXbiIxp5Al— Charlie Lee [LTC] (@SatoshiLite)February 4, 2018"
Yet an actual fork, Litecoin Cash, is in the works. The idea is mystifying, given that Litecoin serves well asdigital cash, with high speeds and low fees, as well as wider adoption on the part of online merchants. Therefore, the fork comes with a warning:
"Please do not try to claim any “Litecoin Cash” through a third party wallet. It is most likely a scam to steal your Litecoin. Remember, Litecoin devs are not forking Litecoin.— Litecoin Support [LTC] (@LitecoinSupport)February 9, 2018"
Hard fork scams usually work by promising a technological answer to splitting the balances and having access to the balance on the alternative blockchain. Users are advised to avoid exposing private keys to sites claiming to be a splitting service, or to untested wallets.
Litecoin gained popularity in the past months, and newcomers may be confused by a high-profile fork where the name has a certain familiar ring to it. But beyond the attempt at branding and riding on the fame of Bitcoin forks, the Litecoin competitor will probably not have any effect on the original project.
Litecoin Cash: A Confusing Asset
Litecoin Cash, the token, has chosen the path of Bitcoin Cash, but technologically, there is little connection between LTC and the forked asset. Even the Litecoin Cash SHA-256 fork team believes this version is best skipped over.
"You can exchange your LitecoinCash here on Etherdelta:https://t.co/PD8N5mWlxeLots of news will arrive soon!!#LitecoinCash#Lcash#etherdeltapic.twitter.com/x52JtwXrC9— LitecoinCash (@litecoin_cash)February 10, 2018"
With this in mind, splitting LTC balances is not technologically possible. Nor is there a reason to alter the blockchain rules for Litecoin. Splitting tokens for the SHA-256 hard fork from an emptied wallet is generally considered safe at this point.