Litecoin has had an excellent week, rising in value to over $90 per coin. Even more promising, it did so on the highest ever trading volumes on GDAX.
The massive run up has coincided with another major rally for Bitcoin, as it rises toward $5,000. Investors are clearly pouring massive amounts of money into the cryptocurrency market with no signs of abating.
Causes
Litecoin’s price increas has been linked to at least two different causes. First, the recent activation of SegWit for Bitcoin creates the real potential of cross-chain Lighting Network (LN) transactions with Litecoin, allowing for faster and cheaper trades to take place on the Litecoin Blockchain.
The Litecoin Foundation recently tweeted that the first ever Lightning Network payment was successful, indicating that the network is complete and ready for transactions. The transaction was sent with a $0 fee.
Second, the general run up of all cryptocurrencies this week on the news that North Korea and the US are increasingly hawkish has carried Litecoin in its wake, driving the price forward on strong demand.
Whether Litecoin will continue its recent run over $100 remains to be seen. At press time, Litecoin was trading at $91.83.