Litecoin [LTC] was introduced into the crypto market as the silver to Bitcoin’s gold. BTC’s counterpart was once ranked 4th in the crypto rankings but it currently sits at 21st in the charts. However, things could be taking a turn for the better going forward. After taking the backseat for so long, the cryptocurrency made news earlier this week for finally rolling out its much-anticipated MimbleWimble [MW] upgrade.
MimbleWimble isn’t a mere spell from Harry Potter. The Litecoin network announced that it was much more than that. The upgrade is expected to spruce up the entire LTC network by paving the way for more confidential transactions.
The network took to Twitter to affirm the update.
Litecoin first announced its venture into the privacy-centric space in 2019. Two years ago, when the network declared that they were working on this, it endured immense backlash. Crypto exchanges, the LTC community, and even onlookers were expressed concern.
But what’s there to worry about?
The MimbleWimble Extention Block Upgrade was introduced to transform the network into a more privacy-centric one. This means that all transactions carried out on this blockchain would be hidden. Information about users that include addresses, the amount sent and received as well as other details pertaining to the transaction would be concealed.
While this upholds the ethos of the crypto industry which is decentralization and privacy, it also paves the way to illicit activities. Back in 2019, just before Litecoin’s announcement about MW, the FATF rolled out a regulation that was quite harsh on privacy coins.
Fearing scrutiny from FATF an array of exchanges were dropping support for privacy coins like Monero [XMR], Dash [DASH], and ZCash. LTC investors began panicking. Several from the community came forward and expressed fear of being ousted from prominent crypto exchanges. However, Litecoin’s creator Charlie Lee stepped in and assured the community that none of that would take place.
Additionally, privacy wasn’t the only aspect that the Litecoin network was focusing on. All transactions that take place on the MWEB would use the Blake 3 algorithm which is said to be much faster than SHA-256.
Litecoin’s social volume attains boost while price remains inert
New developments in a crypto network sometimes boost the price of its native coin. Litecoin witnessed something similar. The altcoin recorded dainty boosts in price following the announcement. The highest the altcoin surged to was $123 and the lowest it dipped to was $105.
At press time, LTC was trading for $122.82 with no major surge or dips in the last 24-hours.
After a long stay in the coveted top ten, Litecoin slipped all the way down to the 21st spot. Currently, the market cap of LTC was at $8.5 billion.
Move over its price, Litecoin’s social volume skyrocketed this week. Lunar Crush revealed that LTC’s social engagement was up by over 93% and was particularly high during the announcement.
Litecoin has maintained a low profile for quite some time now. The latest update in the network certainly boosted the network’s social presence. Therefore, several in the community speculated that the network might be heading towards redemption. While it might be still early to confirm, it is important to note that Litecoin remains one of the early flagship digital assets and it is still more decentralized than some of the newer protocols.