Litecoin

driver

litecoin

curve

secp256k1

address formats

legacy, p2sh, segwit, p2wsh, taproot

SLIP-44 coin

2'

Load it

import { useBlockchain, blockchains } from "@agntn/keys";

const litecoinChain = useBlockchain(await blockchains.litecoin()());
const testnetChain = useBlockchain(await blockchains.litecoin({ network: "testnet" })());

Anything other than mainnet and testnet throws in the constructor. There's no signet or regtest table.

Same five formats, different prefixes

const privateKey = "0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001";
const publicKey = litecoinChain.getKeyPublic(privateKey);

litecoinChain.getAddress(publicKey); // LVuDpNCSSj6pQ7t9Pv6d6sUkLKoqDEVUnJ
litecoinChain.getAddress(publicKey, "p2sh"); // MR8UQSBr5ULwWheBHznrHk2jxyxkHQu8vB
litecoinChain.getAddress(publicKey, "segwit"); // ltc1qw508d6qejxtdg4y5r3zarvary0c5xw7kgmn4n9
litecoinChain.getAddress(publicKey, "taproot"); // ltc1pmfr3p9j00pfxjh0zmgp99y8zftmd3s5pmedqhyptwy6lm87hf5sszjagvq

The hashing is Bitcoin's, RIPEMD160(SHA256(pubkey)), the same taproot tweak too. Only the version bytes and the bech32 prefix change, which is why the segwit address above is bc1qw508d6qejxtdg4y5r3zarvary0c5xw7kv8f3t4 on Bitcoin with a different tail: same 20 bytes, different human readable part, different checksum.

Testnet legacy addresses start with m or n, exactly like Bitcoin testnet, and the WIF prefix is shared as well. A Litecoin testnet key and a Bitcoin testnet key are the same string. Not a bug, that's how Litecoin Core did it.

MWEB isn't supported, neither addresses nor anything else.

Validation

litecoinChain.validateAddress("LVuDpNCSSj6pQ7t9Pv6d6sUkLKoqDEVUnJ"); // true
litecoinChain.validateAddress("MR8UQSBr5ULwWheBHznrHk2jxyxkHQu8vB"); // true
litecoinChain.validateAddress("ltc1qw508d6qejxtdg4y5r3zarvary0c5xw7kgmn4n9"); // true
litecoinChain.validateAddress("bc1qw508d6qejxtdg4y5r3zarvary0c5xw7kv8f3t4"); // false, wrong network

One extra: the old P2SH prefix, 3... on mainnet and 2... on testnet, still validates. Old wallets still produce it, so rejecting it would only break real users. getAddress never emits it, you always get M.

Mnemonics

deriveHDWallet reads the purpose the way Bitcoin does, with coin type 2:

litecoinChain.deriveHDWallet(mnemonic, "m/84'/2'/0'/0/0").address; // ltc1q..., segwit from purpose 84
litecoinChain.deriveHDWallet(mnemonic, "m/44'/2'/0'/0/0").address; // L..., legacy from purpose 44

WIF

import { encodeWIF } from "@agntn/keys";

encodeWIF(privateKey, { chain: "litecoin" }); // T33ydQRKp4FCW5LCLLUB7deioUMoveiwekdwUwyfRDeGZm76aUjV

Version 0xb0 on mainnet, so compressed keys start with T and uncompressed ones with 6. Testnet is 0xef, the Bitcoin one.

Signing

Same construction as Bitcoin with "\x19Litecoin Signed Message:\n" in front: double SHA-256, secp256k1, 64 bytes of r||s in hex. A Bitcoin signature over the same key and message is a different string because the preamble differs, so verify with the chain that signed.

Where it lives

src/blockchains/litecoin.ts is the network table, the preamble and the validation extra. Everything else comes from AbstractBitcoinBlockchain in src/utils/bitcoin.ts, shared with Bitcoin.