Tag: Litecoin

Litecoin Enters Top 20, Soared Over 28% in The Last 7 Days, Here Is Why

by Blockchain News

According to CoinMarketCap, Litecoin’s price shows an impressive bullish trend, which is worth analyzing.  The token price has risen by 28.05% in the past seven days and has subsequently entered the top 20, as per the price-tracking website for crypto assets.

At the time of writing, the price of Litecoin (LTC) was $68.65, with a 24-hour trading volume of $1,400,844,453. The token has been down 1.59% over the last 24 hours. The cryptocurrency is ranked #19, with a live market cap of $4,912,922,846, according to CoinMarketCap.

On October 21, Litecoin was worth $51.18 per coin. Like many cryptocurrencies, the coin has been affected by the overall crypto market downturn and is down 74% in the past year and 65% year to date. In comparison, Bitcoin is down about 69% over the past year and 59% year to date.

Litecoin opened in 2022 at $150.80, and today it is down by 54.39%. At the time of writing, the LTC price is $68.65, up 0.76% from the previous trading day.

On November 1, the price of Litecoin jumped nearly 8% after the payments company MoneyGram enabled users to trade and store several crypto assets, including Litecoin, on its app.

Besides Litecoin, Moneygram also allows users to trade and store Bitcoin and Ethereum. However, with Litecoin having a much smaller market cap and much less of a following, the news did not move Bitcoin and Ethereum in the same way it boosted Litecoin.

Moneygram announced that users in almost all US states and the District of Columbia can purchase, sell and hold Litecoin and other cryptocurrencies. As a result, Litecoin has recently disassociated itself from altcoins and posted a massive rally against Bitcoin.

The price of Litecoin is rallying after temporary decoupling from the crypto market. The token has experienced an increase in the number of addresses holding 1,000 or more LTCs. Litecoin has added 314 new whale addresses; these wallets hold large volumes of LTC and contribute to a huge increase in on-chain activity.

The recent activity in Litecoin price comes after months of consolidation at the $55 level. Litecoin value is now past the key resistance level at $60, which has served as a barrier to a breakout on several occasions.

Besides the price boost, a few days ago, Litecoin mining difficulty set a new record high, peaking at just under 18 million hashes. Blockchian.News reported the matter on November 6. The rise in Litecoin’s mining difficulty means the competition rises as more miners enter the crypto network to reap the rewards.

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Litecoin Mining Difficulty Hitting A New All-Time High Of 17.99 Million Hashes

by Blockchain News

Litecoin mining difficulty has reached a new record level at just under 18 million hashes, according to a post released on Friday by Litecoin Foundation on CoinMarketCap.

The increase puts Litecoin mining difficulty at 17.99 million hashes at block 2,363,707 as of Friday November 5.

Just like Bitcoin, Litecoin uses the proof-of-work consensus mechanism method. Miners of both cryptocurrencies race to complete extremely challenging math puzzles using a hash algorithm in order to achieve consensus throughout their respective networks, win the right to add blocks of valid transactions to their blockchains, and earn block rewards.

The rise of Litecoin’s mining difficulty shows that competition among miners has increased, which is likely due to more miners joining the network. It means that cryptocurrency mining is becoming more popular and that making a worthwhile profit is getting harder.

The Bitcoin mining industry has become extremely competitive in recent years because of the massive surge of individuals looking to make a profit through mining the crypto.

Bitcoin is now the most challenging cryptocurrency to mine. Because Bitcoin itself is very valuable, the mining rewards are pretty hefty. Currently, the Bitcoin block reward stands at 6.25 BTC, equating to around US$130,000, as at the time of writing.

While increasing mining difficulty means that chances of making profits become more difficult, it is not always a bad thing. The higher a crypto’s difficulty, the more secure its network is. This is because a malicious group would need a huge amount of power to take over and control the network through a 51% attack.

Litecoin has experienced a rise in mining difficulty since 2020. While many miners find increasing difficulty levels very frustrating, as highlighted above this element of proof of work blockchains is undoubtedly vital. Without mining difficulty, these networks couldn’t maintain security and control their circulating supply as easily. So, while it may appear like a downside when it increases, it also serves an important role to the network and, therefore, to its users.

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Colorado Becomes First US State to Accept Crypto as Tax Payments

by Blockchain News

Colorado has set the ball rolling as the first U.S. state to offer residents the option of paying taxes using cryptocurrencies.

Governor Jared Polis made the announcement, noting that it was a stepping stone toward making Colorado a digital innovation hub.

“As of right now, the state of Colorado is officially accepting cryptocurrencies as a payment option for all taxes. We’ve been talking about this for a while, and we said we would deliver by the end of the summer — we have,” Polis said.

The Colorado Department of Revenue highlighted that payments would be remitted through personal PayPal accounts, which support Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin (LTC), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH). 

The governor pointed out that the state would collect the crypto payments and deposit the converted value in dollars into the state treasury. He added:

“Taxpayers can now select cryptocurrency as a payment option, just showing again from a customer-service perspective how Colorado is tech-forward in meeting the ever-changing needs of businesses and residents.”

To foster bold ideas in the state, Polis believes taking the crypto payment route is the way to go. 

“As a state, we’re on the forefront of digital innovation, whether it’s applying blockchain and shared-ledger technology as a new model for funding, or whether it’s simply being consumer-friendly and making sure that we allow for the kind of innovation that will disrupt legacy business practices and government practices to make them more efficient,” Polis highlighted. 

Earlier this year, the Colorado governor disclosed that the state was in high gear to permit crypto tax payments as early as this summer, Blockchain.News reported. 

Polis’s crypto advocacy has not gone unnoticed, given that he was one of the initiators of the Congressional Blockchain Caucus back in 2016. He was also among the first politicians to accept crypto donations for his campaigns. 

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Colorado Emerges as First U.S. State to Accept Crypto as Tax Payments

by Blockchain News

Colorado has set the ball rolling as the first U.S. state to offer residents the option of paying taxes using cryptocurrencies.

Governor Jared Polis made the announcement, noting that it was a stepping stone toward making Colorado a digital innovation hub.

“As of right now, the state of Colorado is officially accepting cryptocurrencies as a payment option for all taxes. We’ve been talking about this for a while, and we said we would deliver by the end of the summer — we have,” Polis said.

The Colorado Department of Revenue highlighted that payments would be remitted through personal PayPal accounts, which support Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin (LTC), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH). 

The governor pointed out that the state would collect the crypto payments and deposit the converted value in dollars into the state treasury. He added:

“Taxpayers can now select cryptocurrency as a payment option, just showing again from a customer-service perspective how Colorado is tech-forward in meeting the ever-changing needs of businesses and residents.”

To foster bold ideas in the state, Polis believes taking the crypto payment route is the way to go. 

“As a state, we’re on the forefront of digital innovation, whether it’s applying blockchain and shared-ledger technology as a new model for funding, or whether it’s simply being consumer-friendly and making sure that we allow for the kind of innovation that will disrupt legacy business practices and government practices to make them more efficient,” Polis highlighted. 

Earlier this year, the Colorado governor disclosed that the state was in high gear to permit crypto tax payments as early as this summer, Blockchain.News reported. 

Polis’s crypto advocacy has not gone unnoticed, given that he was one of the initiators of the Congressional Blockchain Caucus back in 2016. He was also among the first politicians to accept crypto donations for his campaigns. 

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Colorado Emerges as First U.S. State to Accept Crypto as Tax Payments

by Blockchain News

Colorado has set the ball rolling as the first U.S. state to offer residents the option of paying taxes using cryptocurrencies.

Governor Jared Polis made the announcement, noting that it was a stepping stone toward making Colorado a digital innovation hub.

“As of right now, the state of Colorado is officially accepting cryptocurrencies as a payment option for all taxes. We’ve been talking about this for a while, and we said we would deliver by the end of the summer — we have,” Polis said.

The Colorado Department of Revenue highlighted that payments would be remitted through personal PayPal accounts, which support Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin (LTC), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH). 

The governor pointed out that the state would collect the crypto payments and deposit the converted value in dollars into the state treasury. He added:

“Taxpayers can now select cryptocurrency as a payment option, just showing again from a customer-service perspective how Colorado is tech-forward in meeting the ever-changing needs of businesses and residents.”

To foster bold ideas in the state, Polis believes taking the crypto payment route is the way to go. 

“As a state, we’re on the forefront of digital innovation, whether it’s applying blockchain and shared-ledger technology as a new model for funding, or whether it’s simply being consumer-friendly and making sure that we allow for the kind of innovation that will disrupt legacy business practices and government practices to make them more efficient,” Polis highlighted. 

Earlier this year, the Colorado governor disclosed that the state was in high gear to permit crypto tax payments as early as this summer, Blockchain.News reported. 

Polis’s crypto advocacy has not gone unnoticed, given that he was one of the initiators of the Congressional Blockchain Caucus back in 2016. He was also among the first politicians to accept crypto donations for his campaigns. 

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Major Korean Exchanges Delisting Litecoin Subject to New Privacy Feature Concerns

by Blockchain News

Major crypto exchanges in South Korea, including Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit, and Gopax, have announced their intention to delist Litecoin from their trading services subject to the new privacy-based MimbleWimble upgrade on the Litecoin blockchain.

The idea of delisting has been brewing for a while. On May 20, Litecoin developers activated a privacy-preserving protocol called MimbleWimble Extension Blocks (MWEB) on the cryptocurrency. The new MimbleWimble update has added a ‘confidential transactions’ feature to the Litecoin blockchain, allowing users to transfer coins while concealing transactional data.

But South Korean crypto exchanges have not been comfortable with the new upgrade because they have to comply with strict laws regarding privacy coins.

A few days later on May 23, Upbit and Bithumb informed investors about the risk associated with Litecoin following the MimbleWimble upgrades. The two exchanges referred to Korea’s Act on the Reporting and Use of Specific Financial Transaction Information, which mandates that cryptocurrency exchanges must comply with KYC and AML measures.

More further developments have continued to unfold. Upbit announced yesterday that it would delist Litecoin because of the anti-money laundering rules that require exchanges to record data on cryptocurrency transactions. Upbit stated that because of the nature of the Mimblewimble privacy protocol, it will not support Litecoin transfers and will remove the coin from its exchange.

Upbit further mentioned that it would halt trading of Litecoin on June 20 and give users one month’s notice to withdraw their funds.

Bithumb also announced yesterday that it will halt all Litecoin deposits from June 8 (that is yesterday). The exchange has given customers until July 25 to withdraw their Litecoin funds, after which it would not support such withdrawals.

Three other South Korean exchanges, namely Gopax, Korbit, and Coinone, have also made official announcements about delisting Litecoin transactions to their customers.

Exchanges Facing Tighter Supervision

South Korea is the third-largest market for cryptocurrency trades globally, coming in behind Japan and the United States.

South Korea’s crypto market first rose to fame in late 2017, when Bitcoin trading skyrocketed in popularity among ordinary citizens who looked to cash in on the virtual currency’s rising price. Since that time, crypto demand has remained so high in the country.

In recent months, Seoul has ramped up the control of its crypto industry to rein in illicit activities such as money laundering and tax evasion. Regulators view cryptocurrency as a risky financial activity among young retail traders.

In 2022, the government announced plans to introduce a crypto capital gains tax. Investors who make over $2,135 in trading profit are expected to face a 20% tariff.

Recently, South Korean financial authorities announced plans to enhance monitoring of local crypto exchanges and introduce legal safeguards in the industry. This came after hundreds of thousands of local investors fell victim to the collapse of the Terra stablecoin and its sister token, LUNA.

Authorities expect local exchanges to play their role properly. Exchanges that violate rules are held legally responsible for their actions.

Last month, the country’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) collaborated with the Financial Supervisory Service to enforce emergency inspections into local crypto exchanges, asking for data on the number of transactions and investors.

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Top 3 Tokens to Watch this Week: BTC, LTC & DOT

by Blockchain News

The digital currency ecosystem had wild price swings this past week, with the global cryptocurrency market capitalization recording a low valuation of $1.71 trillion in the trailing seven-day period.

LTC2.jpg

The volatility has helped the digital assets ecosystem print new highs with the market cap topping the iconic $2 trillion at some point before thebearish weekend correction crept in.

The majority of digital currencies have shed off their gains over the week. With a significant bear depression, most are ready to retest some ambitious price highs this coming week. As the new week unravels with its own fundamentals, here are the top three coins to watch.

Bitcoin (BTC)

BTC traded at a low price of $37,268.98 after hitting a weekly high of $45,077.58, according to CoinMarketCap. While the bulk of these gains has been shed off with the cryptocurrency’s price trading at $39,024.00 at the time of writing, on-chain data shows Bitcoin whales are not selling, with more on track to accumulate much more.

Bitcoin is the industry’s flagship digital asset and it is the reference point for all other cryptocurrencies’ performance. This coming week might be the time for these ambitious buy-ups, and should this happen, BTC will undoubtedly surpass its previous weekly high above $45,000.

Litecoin (LTC)

Litecoin is one of the most resilient digital currencies around and is arguably one of the legacy cryptocurrencies. The resilience of Litecoin is visible in its inherent capabilities as a coin for fast payment, one with a strong community and investor base. Despite a very bearish outlook with the coin trading at 74% below its All-Time High (ATH) of $412.96, retail investors still consider LTC as the go-to assets should they wish to wade off extreme volatility. This recognition can help uplift the coin’s price from the current $103.57 price in the coming week.

Polkadot (DOT)

Polkadot is a very innovative blockchain protocol with many ecosystem activities brewing at this time. Polkadot has seen a very wild price depression and its current price of $17.10 will be considered as a discount for investors looking for an established digital currency to pitch tents with this week. Polkadot and its host of parachains hosted protocols lend the fundamentals that can increase the demand on the DOT tokens and further help uplift the price of the digital assets this week and the other weeks to come.

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Seized Russian Dark Web Sites—Trump’s Dumps, Ferum Shop—Raked In $263 Million In Bitcoin, Ether And Litecoin Sales From Stolen Credit Cards

by Forbes

Topline

Amid a growing wave of cryptocurrency seizures and government cybercrime crackdowns, Russian authorities have taken down massive swaths of the illicit credit card market as the nation looks to bolster legal cryptocurrency adoption, shutting down four sites this week that together have pulled in hundreds of millions of dollars from the sale of stolen credit cards, according to cybersecurity firm Elliptic.

Key Facts

Four illicit websites seized by the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs on Monday made more than $263 million in cryptocurrency proceeds from the sale of stolen credit cards, representing roughly one-fifth of the global market for illicit cards, according to an Elliptic analysis released Wednesday.

Among sites taken down, Ferum Shop was the world’s largest marketplace for stolen credit cards, making an estimated $256 million in bitcoin since its launch in 2013, according to Elliptic, while marketplace Trump’s Dumps, which infamously used former President Donald Trump’s likeness to help sell raw magnetic strip data from stolen cards, raked in about $4.1 million since 2017.

Notices posted on both websites Wednesday morning warned users that the platforms had been seized by police and were pending criminal investigations, while in another seized marketplace, dubbed SkyFraud, Russian authorities left an emoji-laden message buried in the sites’ source code teasing, “Which of you is next?”

Investigators on Monday asked a Mascow court to arrest six members of an unnamed hacking group for allegedly circulating illegal “means of payment,” according to state-owned Russian news agency TASS, but it’s still unclear whether the suspects are directly linked to the dark web credit card sites.

The seizures come less than a month after Russian authorities seized the then-largest illicit credit card dealer, UniCC, which facilitated some $358 million in transactions over nine years.

According to Elliptic, closures and seizures of carding sites this year have already accounted for almost 50% of sales in the dark web market for stolen credit cards—part of a broader slowdown in illicit dark web activity as tightening cryptocurrency regulation makes it more difficult to launder funds.

Key Background

Earlier this week, Russia’s government said it had reached an agreement with its central bank to draft legislation recognizing cryptocurrency as a form of currency by February 18, largely as an effort to help curb cybercrime. According to a draft document, the move would force users to undergo identity checks conducted by the country’s banking system or licensed intermediaries and make it a criminal offense to transact cryptocurrencies without the checks. “The establishment of rules for the circulation of cryptocurrencies and control measures will minimize the threat to the stability of the financial system and reduce the use of cryptocurrencies for illegal purposes,” legislators said, lamenting that a complete ban on cryptocurrencies would be “impossible.”

Big Number

$214 billion. That’s roughly the value of Russia’s crypto market, representing about 12% of the total value of the world’s cryptocurrencies, according to United Kingdom broker GlobalBlock. 

What To Watch For

Amid simmering tensions with Russia over state-sanctioned cybercrime, President Joe Biden is reportedly slated to release an executive order that will task federal agencies with regulating cryptocurrencies as a matter of national security as soon as this month.

Tangent

Russia’s not alone in cracking down on cybercrime. U.S. authorities arrested a New York City couple on Tuesday for allegedly conspiring to launder $4.5 billion worth of bitcoin stolen during a hack of cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex in 2016, $3.6 billion of which federal authorities have recovered in what the Department of Justice is calling the largest financial seizure ever. According to court filings, 34-year-old Ilya Lichtenstein and his wife, Heather Morgan, 31, conspired to launder the proceeds of 119,754 bitcoins by employing “numerous sophisticated laundering techniques”—including using fake identities to set up online accounts and running computer programs to automate transactions.

Editor’s Note: Heather Morgan was a ForbesWomen contributor from July 2017 until Forbes ended the relationship in September 2021, and was never an employee.

Further Reading

Feds Seize $3.6 Billion In Stolen Bitcoin, Arrest Couple Five Years After Massive Crypto Exchange Hack (Forbes)

Internet’s Biggest Marketplace For Stolen Credit Cards Will Shut Down (Forbes)

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Litecoin’s (LTC) Hash Rate and Difficulty Recover Despite Faltering Price

by CryptoPotato

LTC has lost more than half of its value in the past few months, despite the most recent market price increases. Its blockchain hash rate, on the other hand, has been on a steady uptrend depicting the resilience of network participants in the face of tremendous volatility in the broader market.

Litecoin Hash Rate on the Path to Recovery

According to data from BitInfoCharts, Litecoin’s mining hash rate increased to 397 Th/s on February 1st. The last time the figures were this high was back in August 2019. Despite undergoing a mild retracement a week later, the numbers are still hovering around this level. Besides, further data also suggested that the network’s latest difficulty level was also adjusted to 13.53 million, a level last seen in August 2019.

Litecoin Hash Rate. Source: BitInfoCharts
Litecoin Hash Rate. Source: BitInfoCharts

It is important to note that the network hash rate declined sharply to 170 Th/s in June 2021, just a month after hitting an almost two-year high of 384 Th/s. This came amid the all-out crypto ban in China.

Since then, both hash rate and difficulty have been on a steady uptrend in tandem price recovery, even though the latter’s trajectory wasn’t as smooth. In fact, the plunge that unwrapped in the last week of January this year also failed to deter the overall hash rate trend, demonstrating a more robust network.

The major culprit for the initial fall was undoubtedly the second halving. Litecoin’s hash rate and difficulty went on a freefall since the mining reward network halving in July 2019.

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It soon fell out of favor with investors, and it took sixteen months from the event for the silver coin to reach a price of three figures. However, Litecoin mining became more profitable throughout 2020 and remained on approximately the same level in the early months of 2021. The latest recovery was a bullish factor as network volatility continued to wreak havoc.

MimbleWimble Update

Even as most regulators worldwide have blatantly snubbed anonymity-fostering protocols, Litecoin is moving ahead with privacy opt-ins with the release of MimbeWimble (MWEB) upgrade after two years of development. It first started when the Beam Privacy team announced an interesting implementation of MWEB as Extensions Blocks (EB) into the Litecoin network in December 2019.

Experts hold a bullish view on this upgrade. According to the lead developer David Burkett, the update in question aims to enhance the viability of Litecoin as a fungible currency for daily transactions, paying salaries, and even buying real estate.

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Litecoin Creator Praises Dogecoin, Can The Token Get Its Bark Back?

by NEWSBTC

In the midst of fast-paced vacillations between Polkadot (DOT), Terra (LUNA), and DOGE, Dogecoin (DOGE), a cryptocurrency project that began as a joke but has now taken on a far more powerful persona, continues to compete for a place in the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.

Last year, Dogecoin went through two bullish stages. While the first leg was sparked by Robinhood’s adoption of the meme coin, the second was spearheaded by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who earned the moniker “Dogefather” for his unwavering support for Dogecoin. Many observers believe that the ‘Elon Musk effect’ is the lone bullish thesis for Dogecoin because Musk’s persona has such a strong influence on the meme coin’s prospects. Now, Litecoin creator has praised the meme coin, calling Elon Musk great.

Meme Coin Praised by Litecoin Founder

Charlie Lee, the founder of Litecoin, one of the most valuable crypto assets by market capitalization, has praised Dogecoin, a popular meme coin, for its contribution in mainstreaming the crypto business.

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Charlie Lee, in a recent Bloomberg interview, described Dogecoin as “great” and “pretty fun.”

He thinks that the most popular meme cryptocurrency is ready to attract a large number of new users.

Given the role both have played in bridging the gap between the crypto industry and the general public, his praise for Elon Musk and Dogecoin is expected.

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On his Twitter page, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has discussed digital assets multiple times. Apart from that, his electric car firm, Tesla, now takes Dogecoin as a form of payment for its goods.

Related article | Recapping 2021 Memecoin Mania: Dogecoin, Shiba Inu, & More

Dogecoin Price Has Suffered Setback

DOGE plunged 35% after starting to fall on January 16 and remained below the December 4 low of $0.128 until last week. Following the dip, the token has consolidated around the $0.14 demand zone, and continued buying momentum over the next 24 hours might push price up to the 50-day simple moving average (SMA) at $0.16. There is also the possibility of reaching $0.194, which is where the 100-day SMA is located.

However, crypto investors who bought at the highs haven’t fared well in the last nine months.

According to CoinMarketCap data, the Dogecoin price has plummeted by 81% since May 8th. 1 Doge is presently worth 14 cents.

dogecoin

Dogecoin market cap at $18.2 billion. Source: TradingView

Despite the drop, the dog token still has a market cap of $19 billion, accounting for 1.1% of the entire crypto market.

The Dog token price is expected to hit $0.16 this week, according to FXStreet. That’s a 15% increase above the existing pricing.

From the 16th to the 22nd of January, Dogecoin dropped 35% in 6 days, according to FXStreet. However, since then:

“DOGE has produced a sideways movement indicating consolidation around the $0.14 barrier. Any short-term spike in buying pressure is likely to propel [the] Dogecoin price into a 15% ascent to $0.164. This level coincides with the 50-day Simple Moving Average (SMA).”

Related article | Downward DOGE: Descending Dogecoin Pattern Predicts Deadly Drop

Featured image from Unsplash.com, charts from TradingView.com

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Bitcoin (BTC) $ 27,181.28 1.72%
Ethereum (ETH) $ 1,905.03 2.44%
Litecoin (LTC) $ 94.85 0.81%
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) $ 114.59 1.16%