Litecoin’s network difficulty has continued to plummet since the coin’s halving event, falling more than 60%. 

According to data compiled by BitInfoCharts, LTC’s hashrate is down more than 60% since the coin’s block reward halving occurred on Aug. 5.

Hashrate, which gives an approximation of a network’s mining difficulty, has historically been used to gauge competition among miners. Following the decreased LTC payout per block, miners appear to be foregoing litecoin as a source of revenue, leading to a staggering decline in network difficulty. 

litecoin hash rateLitecoin's falling hash rate since Aug. 5 | Source: BitInfoCharts

While miners vie for block rewards, they are also responsible for maintaining the integrity of a cryptocurrency’s blockchain and network. Litecoin’s falling hashrate has investors questioning the coin’s security, with a potential for further decline opening the network to critical attacks. 

In addition, some analysts are now saying that litecoin has entered a mining death spiral, with crypto miners no longer able to generate profitability from the coin.  Litecoin’s founder Charlie Lee predicted in July that LTC miners would undergo a correction following the halving, saying, 

When the mining rewards get cut in half, some miners will not be profitable and they will shut off their machine. If a big percentage does that, then blocks will slow down for some time.

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