Why Litecoin (LTC) Price is Surging?
Elena R18 Oct 20242 min read
After months of quiet, Litecoin (LTC), the third-largest cryptocurrency using the proof-of-work (PoW) consensus, is showing signs of a bullish shift. With a market cap of around $6.2 billion and an average daily trading volume of $523 million, Litecoin has jumped more than 14% in the last two weeks, trading at $73.86 as of Friday, October 18, during the early Asian trading hours.
Litecoin’s rise comes alongside Bitcoin (BTC), which has recently neared the $68k mark. The broader crypto market is signaling a potential breakout, fueled by October’s positive sentiment and changing global economic factors.
Could this be the beginning of a new bull run for Litecoin?
What’s Driving Litecoin’s Price Surge?
Filing of the First Spot LTC ETF
Several factors are pushing Litecoin’s recent growth. Earlier this week, Canary Capital filed the first spot Litecoin ETF with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). With the possibility of Donald Trump winning the 2024 election, there’s increasing speculation that SEC Chair Gary Gensler could be replaced, raising hopes that the spot LTC ETF might be approved next year.
Institutional support for Litecoin has also been strong. Major players like Fidelity Crypto and Grayscale Investments have backed the asset, helping build its reputation and market value.
Rising Demand from Retail Investors
According to market and on-chain research by Santiment, the ongoing Litecoin price bullish breakout is majorly attributed to rising demand from both retail and institutional investors.
Specifically, Santiment noted that Litecoin’s on-chain transactions spiked to $3.97 billion on October 17, which was the highest since June 3, 2023.
Continued Network Development
The Litecoin network has continued to grow in the past years to a major crypto project, backed by over 9.2 million holders. As of this writing, the Litecoin network had a total hash rate of 1.31 PH/s and a total mining difficulty of 42.19 M.
Due to its high throughput, low transaction fees, and undisputed security, the Litecoin network has been integrated as a form of payment by dozens of web3, and web2 business projects.
For instance, PayPal-backed Venmo recently partnered with MoonPay to allow 60 million users in the US to buy Litecoin.
What’s next for Litecoin? Only time will tell. Stay tuned to Coinpedia.
