• Litecoin whales have been increasing their holdings ahead of the Aug 2 halving event.
• Santiment data reveals that addresses holding 100,000-1 million LTC now hold over 35% of the supply.
• Increased interest in the halving has caused a surge in on-chain transaction volume, which could lead to price appreciation for LTC.
Litecoin Halving
The upcoming halving event of Litecoin (LTC) is scheduled for Aug 2 and is expected to reduce the block reward from 12.5 LTC to 6.25 LTC. This event has spurred increased interest in the cryptocurrency, as prices could increase when retail investors join in on the action.
Whales Increase Holdings
Santiment data shows that addresses holding between 100,000 and 1 million LTC now account for over 35% of the total supply – an increase of $59 million since early July due to price depreciation and drawing nearer halving date. Additionally, a tweet by Santiment also revealed that there was a 6% whale address number increase “in the previous five months” leading up to the halving event.
Retail Investors Follow Whales
The halving event began gaining traction in mid-May according to Santiment with forums and posts seeing increased interest as traders were reminded that this event was within three months away. The on-chain transaction volume began to pick up as smaller investors tended to copy whale incentives when large holders continued accumulating more Litecoin tokens.
Halving Impact on Prices
Reduced supply combined with increased demand would logically result in higher prices for Litecoin after its halving due to its limited circulating supply, just like Bitcoin experienced during its own halvings events every four years since its launch.
Conclusion
As Aug 2 approaches closer, it will be interesting to see what kind of impact this upcoming Litecoin halving will have on prices and whether or not it will spark a similar rally like that of Bitcoin’s after its last two halvings earlier this year.