How did Litecoin manage to become a prominent cryptocurrency in payments?

• The share of LTC in global payments increased from 23% in March to just over 34% by the end of July, almost a 50% increase.
• Initially, the excitement over the scarcity of Litecoin was tempered with a 10% drop in the days following the halving, but a larger drop came with the market decline led by Bitcoin, and the token suffered a 24% drop.
• According to data from Santiment, addresses holding between 1,000 and 10,000 tokens increased significantly last week. Those holding between 10,000 and 100,000 LTC also exhibited similar behavior.

Litecoin’s share in global payments is increasing but LTC investors are disappointed; what is the situation with LTC whales?

Litecoin Stands Out in Payment Transactions

Litecoin has emerged as the preferred payment choice monitored by BitPay, the world’s largest crypto payment processor. The share of LTC in global payments increased from 23% in March to just over 34% by the end of July, almost a 50% increase.

In fact, not too long ago in June, “Digital Silver” Litecoin surpassed “Digital Gold” Bitcoin for the first time in history, taking the number one spot. However, LTC’s growth path has flattened since then and it has relinquished the top spot to BTC.

A large part of the growth was supported by the parabolic rise in May-June. According to Glassnode, LTC’s transaction count reached levels equivalent to Bitcoin’s daily count several times during this period.

It should be noted that the demand for Litecoin increased when transaction fees skyrocketed in Bitcoin, leading disappointed users to seek cheaper alternatives. The month of August, which experienced a significant block reward halving, did not go as desired by the majority of the token’s fan base. LTC was negatively affected by two consecutive bearish periods.

Initially, the excitement over the scarcity of Litecoin was tempered with a 10% drop in the days following the halving, but a larger drop came with the market decline led by Bitcoin, and the token suffered a 24% drop. Overall, LTC has lost 30% of its value since the beginning of the month.

Whales Started Accumulating

LTC whales who sensed the upcoming price drop sold their holdings in time. However, when the market started moving sideways, these major investors began increasing their stacks.

According to data from Santiment, addresses holding between 1,000 and 10,000 tokens increased significantly last week. Those holding between 10,000 and 100,000 LTC also exhibited similar behavior. This indicated that whales were optimistic about a bull run in the near future.

However, the sentiment surrounding Litecoin remained negative. Weighted sentiment, which measures the comments around the asset, stayed in the negative zone.