Litecoin Jumps 7.5%, Thanks to Upcoming Halving and LTC20 Transactions

While the broader cryptocurrency market has come under selling pressure, the Litecoin (LTC) price has shot up by more than 7.59% in the last 24 hours and is currently trading at $87.05 with a market cap of $6.3 billion.

Litecoin has participated in the crypto market rally this year and shot past $100 twice in February and April respectively. But after facing a strong retracement to under $80, Litecoin (LTC) is once again picking up an upward trajectory.

Market analysts believe that the recent push in the LTC price comes as Litecoin halving approaches closer, scheduled ahead this year in August 2023. But with Litecoin halving still three months away, there’s another factor at play behind the recent Litecoin price rally.

Litecoin Active Addresses Jump With LTC20 Introduction

As per on-chain data provider Santiment, although the transaction volumes on the Litecoin network have jumped gradually, the total number of active addresses has surged significantly. Active addresses referees to those interacting addresses on the blockchain and making transactions.

But the high number of active addresses and low transaction volumes suggest that all the transactions are relatively smaller in size. One possible reason behind this could be the introduction of the LTC20 standard recently.

As we know, Litecoin has been following Bitcoin’s footsteps from the very beginning. After Bitcoin introduced the BRC-20 protocol, Litecoin also launched its LTC20 standard for non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and its implementation created a major buzz in the market. In its report, data provider Santiment notes:

When examining the LTC supply distribution, we can see that the smallest group of wallets, holding between 0 and 0.001 LTC, is growing rapidly in tandem with the increase in active addresses. This correlation suggests that LTC20 could indeed be the driving force behind the active address anomaly on the Litecoin network.

It will be interesting to see whether this Litecoin hype can continue and whether the LTC price can breach past $100 firmly with strong trading volumes this time. Litecoin creator Charlie Lee is predicting a massive post-halving LTC price rally ahead this year.

Previously, the LTC price faced rejection at $103 levels twice leading to a pullback. Any breakout above this will trigger the next rally.