Litecoin (LTC), a cryptocurrency created by Charlie Lee that is often referred to as the silver to bitcoin’s gold, has recently seen double-digit gains after its Lightning Network (LN) surpassed the 100 node count.
According to a recently published update, it’s the LN for litecoin has been slowly progressing after launching in 2018, due to a “lack of any real urgency to adopt the technology.” This, the update claims, as LTC’s transactions on the blockchain remain congestion-free.
Litecoin’s Layer 1 blockchain remains free from congestion thanks to its 4x quicker block time, allowing it to process roughly 4x as many transactions than its big brother Bitcoin over the same time period.
The cryptocurrency’s price has seemingly surged after the announcement was posted. In the last 24-hour period, it has outperformed the market, as the MVIS CryptoCompare Digital Assets 100 Index – a market cap-weighted index that tracks the top 100 cryptos – is up by 0.8%, while LTC is up 10.6%.
Given the rise, the cryptocurrency is now trading at $35.4, up from a less than $32 low seen earlier today. Its market cap is now of $2.12 billion, making it the 7th largest crypto by market cap.
The node count is still low compared to Bitcoin’s Lightning Network, which already has over 5,130 nodes and a capacity of over 550.5 BTC (over $2.1 million). In comparison, LTC’s LN capacity is of little over 26.5 LTC, totaling less than $950, and the number of open payment channels of 286 is dwarfed by bitcoin’s 18,270.
Part of the reason BTC’s LN has been growing so much aster presumably comes from the need to adopt it, as fees on the flagship cryptocurrency’s network average little under $0.2, and transaction times can be less than optimal during certain periods.
The onboarding process to the network, Litecoin’s update adds, is “likewise not ideal and may also play a factor in uptake,” as users need to “download and compile the Lightning Network Daemon” to access the network.
