Guides / Litecoin testnet
Litecoin testnet
Litecoin testnet
Litecoin's testnet behaves like Bitcoin's, but with faster blocks and one headline feature: MWEB, which adds optional confidential transactions you can practice with here.
Overview
Litecoin's current test network is testnet4. It works just like the Bitcoin testnets (same address types, same UTXO model) with two differences: blocks target about 2.5 minutes (four times faster than Bitcoin), and Litecoin has MWEB. The coin is written tLTC.
Get some tLTC
- A faucet: claim tLTC from CypherFaucet.
- Mining: mine it with TestnetPool to see the process end to end.
Get a receive address first from TestnetWallet.
Addresses
Litecoin testnet address formats:
- Legacy (P2PKH): start with
morn - P2SH: start with
Q(the default), though older2…addresses are still accepted - Native SegWit (bech32): start with
tltc1… - MWEB: start with
tmweb1…
What is MWEB?
MWEB stands for MimbleWimble Extension Blocks. It's a privacy and fungibility upgrade that's live on Litecoin, on both mainnet and testnet. Transactions that live inside the extension block use confidential amounts (the values are cryptographically hidden) and don't expose addresses on the ordinary transparent chain.
You move coins in and out of MWEB with two operations:
- Peg-in: move regular (transparent) tLTC into the extension block, turning it into MWEB coins.
- Peg-out: move MWEB coins back out to a normal transparent address.
It's the same tLTC throughout. MWEB just shields it while it lives in the extension block.
Keep expectations realistic
MWEB hides amounts and keeps MWEB addresses off the transparent chain, but it isn't total invisibility. Peg-ins and peg-outs are still visible as they cross the boundary. And this is still testnet: a great place to see how MWEB behaves before ever touching real coins.
Try MWEB on testnet
Practice a peg-in and peg-out
Get some tLTC
Claim transparent tLTC from CypherFaucet.
Open an MWEB-capable wallet
TestnetWallet supports Litecoin MWEB in the browser.
Peg-in
Send some transparent tLTC to your MWEB (tmweb1…) address to move it into the extension block.
Send a confidential transaction
Move MWEB coins to another MWEB address. The amount is hidden.
Peg-out
Send MWEB coins back to a regular tltc1… address to return to the transparent chain.
Inspect the activity
Watch the peg-ins and peg-outs on TestnetScan. For deeper MWEB privacy analysis, MWEBscan is built for exactly this, and has a testnet instance at testnet.mwebscan.com.
Confirmations and fees work the same as Bitcoin. See how confirmations work and how fees work. Because blocks come every ~2.5 minutes, you'll see confirmations land noticeably faster.
Network parameters
Testnet coins are fake money
- tLTC has no market value, so never buy or sell it.
- Never use a real seed phrase or import a real wallet on testnet.
- Never send mainnet LTC to a testnet address.