In today’s latest development, Litecoin whales appear to be accumulating huge amounts of LTC, which could be quite positive for the network, especially as the halving approaches.
In a tweet shared yesterday, July 18, by a crypto analyst with the Twitter handle @ali_charts, he said confirmed this trend using data from on-chain analytics company Santiment.
According to @ali_charts, Litecoin whales holding 100,000-1,000,000 LTC have acquired over 590,000 LTC in the past two days, worth $59 million.
#Litecoin whales have purchased more than 590,000 $LTC in the last 48 hours, worth about $59 million! pic.twitter.com/RtHpuzSkFt
— Ali (@ali_charts) July 18, 2023
LTC price shows no response to whale movement
As mentioned earlier, these recent whale trades provide a positive undertone for the Litecoin network as it indicates growing confidence in the LTC asset. However, it is worth noting that the market price of LTC has shown minimal reaction to this massive buying frenzy.
Related Reading: Litecoin Whales Plunge Big on Exchanges, Bearish Sign?
For context, LTC is up just 1.44% over the past day, according to data from CoinMarketCap. Meanwhile, the token is down 4.37% on the weekly chart and is marked as one of the top weekly losers.
LTC price movement has been quite bearish since early July. The “Digital Silver” – as it is called – ended on a high last month, gaining more than 26% on June 30 to trade above $100 for the first time since April. This positive price move was followed by some additional gains before the value of LTC started to fall, with a fall of more than 17% between July 3rd and now.
At the time of writing, LTC is trading hands at $92.98, up 0.27% in the last hour. Meanwhile, the token’s trading volume is down 17.08% and it is now valued at $482 million. With a market cap of $6.82 billion, LTC is the 12th largest cryptocurrency in the market.
LTC Trading At $93.08 On The 4-Hour Chart | Source: LTCUSD Chart On Tradingview.com
More positives for Litecoin as investors anticipate halving
Aside from the recent whaling activity, the Litecoin network has also recorded other positive news indicating a growing level of adoption.
On July 15, it reached the network a historical landmarkwith over 170 million transactions since launch, with over 10 million transactions added in the last 7 weeks.
Furthermore, the blockchain will go into effect on July 18 announced that LTC is ranked as the leading cryptocurrency for payment on the BitPay platform. According to a chart shared by BitPay, LTC accounted for 34.9% of all crypto payments on its platform in June.
Related reading: Litecoin becomes the 10th largest cryptocurrency, but is there still room to run?
That said, the recent growth in Litecoin involvement is likely driven by the upcoming halving event, which is scheduled for August 2, 2023.
The Litecoin halving represents a programmed blockchain event where mining rewards are reduced by half. It serves as a deflationary tool that helps keep the scarcity of LTC in circulation, increasing demand, which could potentially drive up the token’s price.
The halving event takes place every four years, with the first two in 2015 and 2019. Currently, LTC mining rewards are 12.5 LTC and will decrease to 6.25 LTC after the halving.
Featured image of CMC Markets chart from Tradingview.