Although Litecoin (LTC) has dropped 4.8% in the last week, it is still up nearly 10% in the 14-day charts. However, many anticipate the asset’s price to rally as LTC’s halving event is inching closer and closer. LTC’s halving will take place on August 10 this year, on block number 2,140,000.
Block rewards given to Litecoin miners for validating transactions will be cut in half during the impending halving event. Rewards will drop from 12.5 LTC to 6.25 LTC. Typically, crypto miners aim to increase their reserves as the halving date draws closer. Moreover, halving events, like Bitcoin (BTC), usually lead to a price surge.
However, the usual development of miners hoarding tokens is not being seen this time around. On-chain data raters show the contrary, i.e., miners are letting go of their reserves. According to the data from IntoTheBlock, Litecoin (LTC) miners have dumped nearly 680,000 LTC in May 2023 alone.
It is possible that miners are booking profits in light of the recent surge in LTC prices. Mining costs have recently skyrocketed as a result of rising worldwide energy costs as well as regulatory crackdowns on cryptocurrency mining operations. LTC miners are likely to keep selling if these circumstances do not change.
Will Litecoin reach $100?
In the past three weeks, Litecoin (LTC) has outperformed both Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). And a crucial element has been the optimistic trading behavior of the crypto whales with balances between 10,000 and 100,000 LTC. The whales appear to have started collecting profits this week. They dumped 110,000 LTC, worth around $9.5 million, between May 23 and 26.
Notably, this type of behavior has been highly associated with price movements. This implies that if they keep selling, they might cause another LTC price correction. Therefore, LTC prices could drop below $80 if this trend continues.
Moreover, as mentioned above, LTC miners are not in the mood to stock up on LTC. However, this could change as we approach the halving date.
At press time, LTC was trading at $87.05, up 3.1% in the last 24 hours.