Litecoin halving was one of the most anticipated events in 2023 in the cryptocurrency industry. But what is it and what purpose does it serve? How did it start? Also, what kinds of effects will it have on the token, users, and the crypto market?
Let’s learn everything in detail as we go through each section of the article.
What Is Litecoin Halving?
Do you know how new coins enter into circulation? Have you heard of crypto miners? They are individuals who solve difficult problems set by the cryptocurrency platform’s network algorithm, to generate a cryptographic number that is less than or equal to the number set by the algorithm.
The whole process restarts once a miner solves the equation and they will be rewarded in tokens. The mined coins will be added to the block and that will enter circulation will be available for trading and investment.
The rewards earned by a miner are preprogrammed, and so is the halving process. Each time a halving takes place, the rewards earned on mining a Litecoin will be reduced to half and the mining process becomes even harder with increased cost as it involves a lot of software and hardware.
But why do they do it? Don’t they want the coins in circulation? Let’s start with the history.
Litecoin Halving History
The halving process started with Bitcoin when it first halved miner rewards in 2012. It was preprogrammed even before its launch in 2009.
In 2012, the miner rewards were reduced to 25BTC from the earlier amount of 5BTC. It’s the same with Litecoin as well.
Litecoin was launched on 13 October 2011. The miners were offered a reward of 50LTC at the time, and it stayed that way for the next four years, until 2015 when the next halving took place.
The reward went down to 25LTC in 2015, and again four years later, after the second halving, the reward became 12.5LTC. The fourth event took place almost a year ago, on 2 August 2023.
LTC halving takes place once a set of 840,000 blocks is mined. As obvious from the pattern followed until last year, this process takes around a period of four years to finish. This means that there will not be a Litecoin halving in 2024.
Impact Of Litecoin Halving
Cryptocurrency halving, whether it is of Litecoin or Bitcoin, is done with a certain purpose of increasing scarcity. This is the key to maintaining the stability of the coin during inflation, with reduced supply.
At the same time, it helps increase the value of the token as the demand increases and the supply decreases.
Similarly, halving affects the miners’ income as well. Right after halving, their earnings will be reduced by 50%, consequently reducing their interest in Litecoin mining.
As a result, they shift their different currencies for a while.
Past Halving Events: Impacts
Litecoin halving events took place three times in the past. From when it was launched, Litecoin experienced a steady rise in value until 2015, the year of the first halving event.
The price kept on increasing until a month before the first halving, and then it started declining. The first halving did not have much of an impact on the coin, except that it maintained a stable value for almost two years.
There was an increase in price from 2017 to 2019 when the second halving occurred. Contrary to expectations, the price kept falling. The token’s value plunged hours after the final halving in 2023.
Although the users expect it to rise in value within the next four years, past data does not give much hope.
The Bottom Line
If you intend to invest in Litecoin, there are certain things you need to consider. Although the sudden drop in value after the last halving indicates volatility and might raise some doubts about its prospects, it is not uncommon for currencies to have fluctuations right after the event.
Having said that you also need to take the past data that we have discussed into consideration. So, give it a minute, maybe sleep on it, and do some additional research before you decide
