Litecoin (LTC) - Price prediction 2023 - 2026
- 5 minute read
In June 2022, Litecoin (LTC) implemented the long-awaited Mimblewimble update. Now that we have entered the bear market and it has also hit the Litecoin price, we are looking ahead. Litecoin's next halving is not far in the future. But where does the LTC price stand and what can we expect from the network in the future? In this Litecoin forecast, we look at updates on the network, the latest Litecoin news and the Litecoin price forecast. Will the Litecoin price rise?
Table of Content
- What is Litecoin?
- Why was Litecoin founded?
- Latest Litecoin price predictions by analysts
- Current Litecoin price
- The Litecoin Halving
- Litecoin and the Proof-of-Work Algorithm
- Litecoin transaction fees (LTC)
- The Tokenomics of Litecoin
- Litecoin updates in 2022
- Advantages of Litecoin over Bitcoin
- Conclusion
What is Litecoin?
After the development of Bitcoin , Litecoin is one of the first alternative cryptocurrencies. The cryptocurrency was launched in 2011 and was developed by Charlie Lee, who previously worked at Google. Litecoin, like Bitcoin, is a decentralised digital currency. This means that the Litecoin network is not controlled by one company, but by users of the network around the world. Like Bitcoin, a third party (such as a bank) is not needed to carry out a transaction. This system is also known as a peer-to-peer electronic money system. Litecoin is 'open source', meaning that the code Litecoin runs on can be viewed by anyone. Anyone can suggest changes to the network. If more than half of the network's users agree with the proposal, it will be implemented.
A total of 84 million LTC tokens can be circulated. Each LTC is divisible down to 0.00000001 LTC. To make it easier to name 0.00000001, this is called a Photon. A Photon is the same as a Satoshi (0.00000001 BTC). In 2021, Litecoin managed to reach an ATH (highest valuation) of $412.96.
Litecoin is the first cryptocurrency to adopt the Lightning Network and use it as a Layer 2 Solution. A Layer 2 Solution allows users to execute transactions in just seconds for very low transaction fees of just one US cent.
Why was Litecoin founded?
Charlie Lee noticed that Bitcoin was relatively slow and that transaction fees were high. He therefore wanted to develop a faster and cheaper alternative. Litecoin has been popular since its launch and is very similar to Bitcoin. For example, like Bitcoin, Litecoin uses the Proof-of-Work algorithm.
Latest Litecoin price predictions by analysts
Although we do not make price forecasts on cryptocurrencies ourselves, there are analysts who make predictions for the LTC price using algorithms or trend lines. Below, we will explain their Litecoin price prediction.
Altcoin Daily Litecoin price prediction 2023-2030
YouTube channel Altcoin Daily has done a comprehensive analysis on Litecoin and have made a price prediction for upcoming years, by looking at Fibonacci levels of the trading pair LTC/USD. They believe in an expectation that Litecoin could reach a price of at least $2.568 per LTC coin between 2023 and 2030. Should the updates be successful and the course of the crypto market be extra bullish, LTC could even reach a price of $8,000 per LTC, according to Altcoin daily.
TradingBeasts Litecoin price prediction 2023-2026
TradingBeasts has done price predictions for Litecoin through 2026 based on their own algorithm and expect the following maximum price based on their algorithm:
| Month | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
| January | - | $74 | $100,07 | $130,45 |
| February | - | $75,83 | $102,72 | $132,86 |
| March | - | $77,04 | $105,11 | $135,01 |
| April | $70.43 | $78,89 | $107,76 | $137,36 |
| May | $70.03 | $80,82 | $110,32 | $139,6 |
| June | $69,77 | $82,96 | $112,95 | $141,88 |
| July | $69,73 | $85,14 | $115,48 | $144,05 |
| August | $69,89 | $87,50 | $118,07 | $146,26 |
| September | $70,28 | $89,94 | $120,64 | $148,44 |
| October | $70,87 | $92,37 | $123,09 | $150,52 |
| November | $71,71 | $94,93 | $125,6 | $152,63 |
| December | $72,72 | $97,45 | $128 | $154,65 |
Digitalcoin Litecoin price prediction 2023-2026
Digitalcoin, like TradingBeasts, has done price forecasts for Litecoin through 2026 based on their own algorithm and expect the following maximum price based on their algorithm:
| Month | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
| January | $98.66 | $185.71 | $250.47 | $337.1 |
| February | $93.40 | $189.79 | $257.7 | $331.52 |
| March | $71.03 | $182.21 | $259.46 | $360.84 |
| April | $74.45 | $194.5 | $254.48 | $332.44 |
| May | $75.39 | $196.91 | $264.44 | $375.87 |
| June | $74.63 | $216.71 | $288.14 | $347.54 |
| July | $73.35 | $185.8 | $261.2 | $343.4 |
| August | $73.16 | $190.47 | $258.1 | $370.25 |
| September | $74.23 | $186.74 | $253.05 | $347.4 |
| October | $71.02 | $188.57 | $252.32 | $334.3 |
| November | $71,63 | $184.75 | $278.85 | $335.71 |
| December | $71,02 | $188.4 | $264.85 | $347.58 |
Once again, we would like to underline that we do not make predictions ourselves and that most predictions do not come true, because nobody knows what developments will take place in the future and how the crypto market will react to them. Therefore, making price forecasts exactly to the dollar cent is unrealistic, but can be used by some as an indication to make proper trade-offs. For Litecoin, it is especially important to follow the latest Litecoin news...
Current Litecoin price
The Litecoin price has shown a lot of volatility in recent months. The developments in the crypto market have not affected the Litecoin (LTC) price positively either. Whereas at the peak of the bull market in April 2021, the Litecoin price was still above $400, at the time of writing it is just above $70.
Despite the fact that there has been little litecoin news, the price has still risen significantly in recent weeks. This may be due to the upcoming Litecoin halving. This halving will take place around August 2023. People may already be gearing up for this halving, causing the LTC price to rise. Below is the current Litecoin price:
The Litecoin Halving
The upcoming Litecoin halving is perhaps the most important Litecoin news of this year. During this halving, which will take place during the blockheight of 2,520,000, block rewards will drop from 12.5 per block to 6.25 per block. This means the number of new coins entering circulation will halve. Historically, this has always been an important fundamental update for cryptocurrency prices, especially for Bitcoin. Whether this is a selffulfilling prophecy and people are buying Litecoin because they expect the Litecoin price to rise, which then causes the price to rise, or whether the halving actually has a major impact, we will leave it open for a moment here.
Litecoin and the Proof-of-Work Algorithm
Litecoin's Proof-of-Work algorithm allows transactions to be validated and new blocks to be added to the blockchain. The major difference between Litecoin and Bitcoin is the speed of the network. For example, Litecoin's blocktime is much lower than Bitcoin’s blocktime. Blocktime is the time between the validation of a new block. For example, on Litecoin's blockchain a new block is added every 150 seconds, while on Bitcoin it is added every 10 minutes. Adding blocks is done by miners. They provide their computer power to solve mathematical formulas. As a reward for solving the mathematical formula, the computer is paid 12.5 LTC.
Litecoin transaction fees (LTC)
The cost of executing a transaction is currently $0.01. This is roughly equivalent to 0.0001 LTC. This is a lot cheaper than the transaction fees on the Bitcoin network. This is much cheaper than the Bitcoin network where the average transaction fee is $2.67 per transaction.
The Tokenomics of Litecoin
Litecoin did not do a 'Premine' or ICO Launch but did a 'fair' launch. A Premine means coins are given away to individuals. This often involves sending percentages of coins to personal wallets of CEOs and developers of the project. An ICO, on the other hand, is a type of crowdfunding where money is raised to help fund the project. In exchange for the funding, the investor is paid out in tokens.
With Litecoin, however, it was a fair launch where the first LTC coins were earned through mining. With this, Litecoin followed in the footsteps of Bitcoin, which, like Litecoin, conducted a fair launch.
Like Bitcoin, the reward for mining Litecoin is halved every four years. At the time of writing, the reward is 12.5 LTC per block mined. The next halving will take place on 1 July 2023, bringing the reward for mining a block to 6.25 LTC. Halving has, historically, often had a major impact on price expectations. As the reward goes down, and therefore fewer Litecoin can enter the market, the price often goes up. Therefore, the expectation with this halving is that the litecoin price will react positively. It is one of many trading strategies. Of course, whether this will actually be the case also depends on the rest of the crypto market.
Litecoin updates in 2022
2022 is an important year for Litecoin. After two years of development, the Litecoin network is going to perform an upgrade called MimbleWimble. Other big news is the expected acceptance of cryptocurrencies by The Union Bank of the Philippines.
MimbleWimble
After two years of development, Litecoin (LTC) has finally launched its long-awaited Mimblewimble upgrade, opening the door to more privacy-oriented transactions on the network. MimbleWimble is a privacy protocol that can ensure the privacy of users. This makes it different from transparent protocols like Bitcoin. To give an example, you can look at the Bitcoin ledger. Here you can see which wallets exist and how much Bitcoin they hold. You can also track every transaction.
With a MimbleWimble protocol, no addresses are visible. This means that no one can see how much Litecoin you own and which address you are sending Litecoin to. Another important aspect of the protocol is that the IP address which is used to send Litecoin is also hidden.
The MimbleWimble integration in Litecoin was made possible by Mimblewimble Extension Block (MWEB). The lead developer of MWEB, David Burkett, says the protocol can even be used to pay salaries and make purchases such as real estate.
A fun fact is that the protocol has the same name as a Harry Potter spell. It is therefore expected that the creator of the protocol is a Harry Potter fan. Unfortunately, we cannot prove this because it is not known who created the protocol.
MimbleWimble's has been used by other crypto currencies for some time now. Litecoin is following in the footsteps of well-known crypto coins such as Monero (XMR), Dash (DASH) and Zcash (ZEC). Besides privacy are scalability and fungibility important features of MimleWimble. In recent years Litecoin has struggled to stay relevant and therefore they see the integration of MimbleWimble as a tipping point. Don't forget that Litecoin was the number two for a long time instead of Ethereum.
Unfortunately, Binance has announced that they will not support this MimbleWimble update. As a result, users will not be able to use MimbleWimble to send confidential Litecoin (LTC) transactions over the network. As Binance is a very large player in the crypto market, the impact of this MimbleWimble update on the Litecoin price may be smaller than initially expected in a Litecoin price forecast.
Adoption by The Union Bank of the Philippines
Recently, Bloomberg shared a report in which they indicate that The Union Bank of the Philippines is planning to offer crypto trading and custody services. Among others, trading Litecoin will be possible at the 10th largest bank in the Philippines. In this way, the bank wants to benefit from the national adoption of crypto by citizens, who, according to the report, invest 3 to 5% of their income in crypto.
Advantages of Litecoin over Bitcoin
Based on the topics we have covered in this article, there are some advantages of Litecoin over Bitcoin that can be concluded:
The speed of the Litecoin network
The Litecoin network was initially built because developer Charlie Lee found Bitcoin's network too slow. The speed of Litecoin is therefore a big advantage over Bitcoin, as with Litecoin it is less than 2.5 minutes between mining a new block, while with Bitcoin it is ten minutes.
Mining Reward
The reward for mining a Litecoin block is 12.5 LTC at the time of writing, while for mining a Bitcoin the reward is 6.25 BTC. However, it should be noted that the value in USD is significantly in favour of Bitcoin. For example, mining a Litecoin block currently only gets you $1200 in LTC coins, while mining a Bitcoin block gets you over two tons in dollars of BTC coins. So while for 'miners' it sounds more interesting to mine Bitcoins instead of Litecoins, for true Litecoin fanatics it may be different.
Lower transaction fees
The (high) transaction costs were also a reason for Charlie Lee to build the Litecoin network. As a result, executing a transaction is over $2.5 dollars cheaper than executing a transaction on the Bitcoin network.
Litecoin as a payment method
The adoption of a cryptocurrency can have a major impact on its price. This also applies to the litecoin price. Since no DeFi activity is possible on the Litecoin network, the use of Litecoin as a means of payment is an important indicator of adoption. The more Litecoin is used as a means of payment, the better the litecoin expectation could logically be.
Bitpay, one of the largest payment service providers in the crypto market, announced via Twitter that Litecoin payments are on the rise. This is important Litecoin news and should definitely be factored into Litecoin expectations for the future. If this share of payments increases further, it will be bullish for the Litecoin price. The number of transactions using Litecoin is above 25%.
LTC short-term prediction
Tradingview makes short-term forecasts based on technical indicators, which indicate whether it is a good time to buy in the short term or not:
Conclusion
Litecoin has long been at the top, but we have seen many cryptocurrencies pass Litecoin in recent years. For years it has been fairly quiet around the network, but in 2022 the MimbleWimble update was implemented. The next halving is expected to take place in August 2023. This will cause block rewards to be halved. Historically, this has always had a big impact on the price of cryptocurrencies. So the upcoming halving may cause investors to buy Litecoin. Other big news is that a recent report from Bloomberg indicates that The Union Bank of the Philippines will be adding crypto trading services to their current services. What the price expectation for Litecoin is going to be in 2023 is hard to say, but developments give hope and Litecoin seems popular at the moment. Still, there are always analysts making price predictions.
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