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Litecoin Price Surges to New Record High

Last Updated March 4, 2021 4:59 PM

By Lester Coleman

Litecoin price jumped 15.61 points to hit $58.70 today, giving it a market capitalization above $3 billion.

Litecoin’s surge led all of the top 12 cryptos today, none of which reached double digits in the 24-hour period. Number 13 ranked Lisk, with a market capitalization of $862.886 million, jumped 42.33 points in the 24-hour period, according to CoinMarketCap.

The Surge Continues

Litecoin’s price has been rising steadily since March when it began climbing from the $4.00 range. The climb from March marked the first recovery since late 2013, when Litecoin rose from low single digits to over $50 in November, 2013, then tumbled through 2014 to $1.29 on Jan. 1, 2015.

Litecoin, now ranked number six behind Ripple, has ridden bitcoin and Ethereum’s post-March surge, jumping from $3.85 on March 13 to $53.60 on July 4.

SegWit And Bitcoin Cash At Work

Litecoin surpassed the $50 mark for the first time in August due to its compatibility with bitcoin as a result of its Segregated Witness (SegWit) activation and its hedge-like characteristics to Bitcoin Cash (BCH). Bitcoin analyst and investor Tuur Demeester recently described Litecoin as a bitcoin hedge because of its SegWit-enabled network and transactions. He said that the sell-off of BCH was likely to cause Litecoin price to surge.

While it is difficult to wholly attribute the surge in Litecoin’s price to the recent sell-off of BCH, the timeline matched Demeester’s analysis. During the week when BCH fell from over $1,000 to $640, Litecoin’s price achieved new all-time highs, breaking through the $50 mark for the first time since July.

It is likely the sell-off of BCH attracted investors in South Korea and China because they have been BCH’s two largest markets and the demand for Litecoin has been increasing at a rapid rate in both markets. Upon the short-term sell-off of BCH, investors moved to Litecoin, Ethereum and bitcoin in the Chinese and South Korean markets.

Another key factor is SegWit’s activation in the Bitcoin network. The Bitcoin Core development team’s SegWit, which works a transaction malleability fix and scaling solution, was adopted by Litecoin in July. Litecoin’s implementation of SegWit ultimately encouraged the bitcoin industry and community to integrate SegWit in the main bitcoin network.

Also read: Why did Litecoin hit $50 for the first time in August?

Cross Network With Bitcoin

Litecoin’s cross-network connection with bitcoin is also playing a vital role in sustaining the upward momentum of Litecoin price. With SegWit live in both Litecoin and Bitcoin networks, cross-network swaps are now possible through cross-blockchain channels.

Charlie Lee, the creator of Litecoin, and the development team behind Lightning, a SegWit-based bitcoin micropayments solution, has emphasized the importance of a Litecoin-to-Bitcoin SegWit-enabled transaction swaps.

Litecoin also received a boost in June when BitGo, the leading multi-signature technology-based service provider that works with some of the largest bitcoin exchanges and trading platforms, began to support Litecoin and provide security services for the Litecoin platforms.

The BitGo boost came on the heels of Lee announcing his plans to resign from his role as Coinbase director of engineering to solely focus on the development and innovation of Litecoin. Lee noted that the decision of the BitGo development team to implement Litecoin and provide multi-signature security services for Litecoin-based platforms and service providers is a major step for the Litecoin community and industry.

Featured image from Shutterstock.