Charlie Lee created Litecoin to improve on the transaction speed and scalability of Bitcoin. Both networks provide near instant transactions, however the key difference is between the two is the time it takes to verify the transaction by other network participants. According to data from  Blockchain.info , the Bitcoin network’s long-term average transaction confirmation time is just over 10 minutes per transaction, though this can vary widely when traffic is high. The equivalent figure for Litecoin is roughly 2.5 minutes. In principle, this difference in confirmation time could make Litecoin more attractive for merchants. To provide an  example , a merchant selling a product in exchange for Bitcoin would need to wait nearly four times as long to confirm payment as if that same product were sold in exchange for Litecoin. On the other hand, merchants can always opt to accept transactions without waiting for any confirmation at all.