In an unprecedented surge, Litecoin, a cryptocurrency that is often referred to as the silver to Bitcoin’s gold, has registered an astounding 167 million transactions as its use for payments grew to a new all-time high.
The cryptocurrency has been seeing its price rise significantly over the last few days amid a wider cryptocurrency market recovery and is up over 15% over the past week. Litecoin has been outperforming ahead of its upcoming halving event, which is slated for August 2.
This is the third halving event Litecoin will undergo, and it will reduce the per-block reward from the current 12.5 Litecoin (LTC) to just 6.25 LTC, a move that history suggests could spur an uptick in demand and thus a potential surge in price.
As CryptoGlobe reported, the number of new and active addresses on the network has been hovering near all-time highs set earlier this year, and there was even a brief period when the creation of new Litecoin addresses outpaced those for Bitcoin.
According to data analyzed by popular cryptocurrency analyst Rekt Capital, Litecoin “trends to rally quite strongly before its halving,” with the cryptocurrency rising 820% after bottoming out 122 days ahead of its first-ever halving, and rising 550% after bottoming 243 ahead of its second halving.
Historically, the cryptocurrency rallied more after its halving event. After its first halving, LTC surged 12,400%, while after its second halving it rose 1,573%. Michael van de Poppe, a popular crypto analyst, has cast his gaze towards the future, predicting potential long opportunities for Litecoin.
According to van de Poppe, $82-$84 and $78-$79 are two critical ranges to watch for those who are looking at the cryptocurrency’s price.
Litecoin’s creator Charlie Lee has also revealed he is bullish about the halving, at one point suggesting he believes that LTC/BTC could rally to 0.025 BTC, translating to an increase of over 700% during the next bull cycle.
This potential growth can be attributed to Litecoin’s inherent design features, Lee said, which include higher throughput, enhanced scalability with extension blocks, better fungibility, and increased privacy via MWEB.
Featured image via Unsplash.
