Litecoin Price Prediction – Will LTC Value Rise And How Far Could It Go?

Last Updated January 7th 2022
19 Min Read

Going into 2021, Litecoin escalated a bullish trend that had been gathering pace for the better part of 2020.

In mid-May 2021, Litecoin price peaked at $412.96, and as the digital currency pushes on with its mildly volatile bullish trend, the question on everyone's mind right now is - how far it can go?

Litecoin's proponents remain confident that LTC can ride another bullish momentum to peak above $300 by year-end. Critics, on the other hand, believe that it is only a matter of time before the price of the coin – which currently ranks #26 on the list of top 100 cryptocurrencies based on market capitalization – falls below $100. 

But before exploring Litecoin's price and future price outlook any further, we first have to understand the digital coin's inner workings in detail.

We start by asking ourselves, what is Litecoin? How does it work? How did it come to be, and what real-world problem does it seek to solve? We will then examine its price history and highlight several possible outlooks to help you make a more informed crypto investment decision.

Contents:

What is Litecoin, and How Does it Work?

How Litecoin works?

Litecoin in 2021: Everything You Should Know about the Price Surge

Litecoin Price History: The perfect Bitcoin complementary?

Litecoin Price Predictions 2022 – 2023

Litecoin Price Predictions 2024 – 2025 and Beyond

Past Litecoin Price Predictions That Came True 

The Future of Litecoin: What Experts Are Saying About Litecoin's Potential Growth

Conclusion: Will the Price of Litecoin Rise?

 

What Is Litecoin, And How Does It Work?

Litecoin is a form of digital money, also referred to as, cryptocurrency and one of Bitcoin's earliest spinoffs. Today, it is among the top five most traded altcoins with a circulating supply of 68.7 million LTC and a market capitalization of $12.6 Billion.

Litecoin launched on 13th October 2011 as an open-sourced decentralized technology created by Charlie Lee, an experienced computer scientist, a former software engineer for Google, and a Bitcoin miner.

Lee intended Litecoin to be Bitcoin's 'lite' version. Having interacted with the Bitcoin blockchain and experiencing first-hand its rigidity problems, Charlie Lee set out to create a lighter version of the Bitcoin blockchain. It promised all the bitcoin features and innovativeness with the added advantage of being lightweight, fast, and facilitating more low-cost transactions.

But how does Litecoin work, and what makes it this popular?

How Litecoin Works?

Like Bitcoin, Litecoin is intended to serve as a digital currency and facilitate day-to-day online transactions. Virtually every aspect of Litecoin is designed to mirror Bitcoin's features, including its key role of serving as an alternative currency that solves the fiat currencies’ inherent limitations of inflation and government control.

But Litecoin blockchain technology is lighter and faster than Bitcoin's. For instance, while it takes the Bitcoin blockchain 10 minutes to confirm a block, Litecoin achieves the same in 2.5 minutes. The faster transaction speeds are then complemented by the ultra-low transaction costs. According to Litecoin developers, these two make Litecoin a preferred "cryptocurrency for payments" and a "proven medium of exchange complementary to Bitcoin."

Like Bitcoin, Litecoin is also 'created' through mining. By contributing computing power to the Litecoin network that is then used to process LTC transactions, you will be rewarded a 12.5 LTC when a block is confirmed. There will ultimately be 84 million Litecoins, with over 68.72 million coins having been mined.

Other key aspects of how Litecoin works include the fact that it uses the proof of work consensus algorithm and Scrypt hashing algorithm. It is highly divisible, ensuring that you don't always have to spend the whole LTC and making it more suitable for use as a currency. For instance, you can spend or trade 0.01 LTC. Moreover, with its surging popularity and value rise, Litecoin is increasingly being adopted as a store of value.

Litecoin In 2021: Everything You Should Know About The Price Surge

Throughout 2021 Litecoin continued to exhibit massive resilience on its journey towards the $412 peak price hit it in May.  Its price volatilities for the year were relatively shallow, ensuring that the coin rose as fast as it fell and contributing to the gentle bullish trend.

Most LTC proponents have pointed to several Litecoin development team- and crypto market-inspired factors that greatly influenced LTC prices in 2021. These include:

The Mimblewinmble privacy extension: Late 2020, the Litecoin Project development team sought to improve the Litecoin network's privacy, so they came up with the MimbleWimble extension that hides LTC users’ personal information. The thrill of having personal details completely removed from crypto transactions has, to some extent, helped give LTC a new lease of life. It has drawn in more privacy-oriented crypto traders/investors who have, in turn, pushed up the crypto prices.

The May crypto market bull run: As world economies continued to shut down due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the crypto market attracted new users. The global citizenry and institution's interest in crypto markets suddenly peaked, and the value of cryptocurrencies soared. Litecoin price, for instance, opened the year trading at around $40 but rallied to over $130 by year-end. Its bullish run that started during the pandemic spilled into 2021, and LTC reached its current all-time high.

Bitcoin's bullish trend: It is no secret that Litecoin mirrors Bitcoin's design and performance. Every time the price of the legacy digital currency rallied, Litecoin was always a few paces behind, following in the footsteps. Since Bitcoin price started gathering momentum in mid-2020, Litecoin has been hot on its heels. And seeing that the BTC rally isn't ending soon, one can only expect the LTC value to keep rising.

But has Litecoin price been this promising? What was the LTC's listing price, and how did it get here?

Crypto asset investing is highly volatile and unregulated in some EU countries. No consumer protection. Tax on profits may apply.

Litecoin Price History: The Perfect Bitcoin Complementary?

Litecoin was arguably the first hard fork for the Bitcoin Core Client. Its development started around 2011 and would go on to mirror not just Bitcoin's design but also its price volatility. Since its launch in 2013, LTC has had multiple bullish and bearish rallies – most of which followed not just the crypto market but also mirrored Bitcoin price movements.

Though volatile, one must appreciate the fact that the Litecoin price has been gently bullish. As the crypto markets gained popularity, more LTC investors joined, and the coin was embraced by thousands of online and physical stores all over the world.

These factors happened at different stages of LTC's history and have had significant impacts on LTC's price movements, with their influence imprinted in what has become the LTC price history graphs.

But what factors had the biggest impact on the price of Litecoin? When did this take place, and how far up did they push the LTC price?

The fact that Bitcoin had paved the way for Litecoin's market penetration didn't make its entry into the crypto world any smooth. The Bitcoin fork would still face its own share of challenges like mistrust and a hard time establishing its own niche within the crypto industry. These two would particularly have a major impact on its early adoption, and they continue to impact its price and market position to date.

When Litecoin launched in October 2011, it was priced at around $0.05. This was a far cry from Bitcoin's $2 value, especially given that Litecoin sought to actively compete with Bitcoin as the preferred payment currency by granting its users everything BTC had to offer and more. Litecoin's sluggish entry into the market continued seeing that by the time the first LTC price burp kicked off at the end of October 2013, Litecoin price had only risen to about $2.15.

The two-month Litecoin price rally witnessed in November and December 2013 would see the LTC value rise from $2 and peak above $40. It brought about much-needed hope and reassurance to investors. Importantly, it drew attention to its potential use as a medium of exchange in the place of or alongside Bitcoins.

As any crypto historian would tell you, the force behind the 2013 LTC price rally was three-pronged. First was Litecoin's listing on the now-defunct Mt. Gox exchange that brought about the much-needed attention to the coin. During the time, Bitcoin was experiencing its own rally and setting historic price records.

Similarly, Bitcoin mining was becoming harder and unrewarding. Bitcoin had just undergone its first halving reducing block reward from 50 to 25. Further, more than half its total supply had been mined. Litecoin, on the other hand, was considered relatively new, and its total supply of 84 million LTCs was barely exploited.

In the months that followed, Litecoin's value slipped and fell to its all-time lows of $1.11 on 14th January 2015.  It would take the coin two years to recover as it closed the year 2016, valued at around $4. By April 2017, just as the first crypto market rally was gathering momentum and the world was waking up to cryptos, Litecoin's price had shot to $10. In mid-December the same year, the Bitcoin fork set its all-time-high price with one LTC going for $375.29.

Since the 2017 crypto rally, Litecoin has had several other meek volatility spats. For instance, in December 2018, Litecoin price plunged to $20 before attempting a comeback between April and June 2019. Though spirited, the rally was short-lived and couldn't go past the $140 mark.

By December 2019, it had pulled back to the $40 range before attempting another rally in February 2020 that lost momentum after hitting $80. 

It would pull back to the $30 range in March 2020, after which it embarked on the current rally. For the past twelve months, Litecoin has suffered modest volatilities that ushered in the $245 peak hit in February 2021. In May 2021 Litecoin hit its current all-time high of $412.96 and has since decreased in value.

Read Also: Is Litecoin a Good Investment?

Crypto asset investing is highly volatile and unregulated in some EU countries. No consumer protection. Tax on profits may apply.

Litecoin Price Predictions 2022 – 2023

2023 will be such a crucial year for Litecoin as it is expected to undergo its third halving during the year. After the halving, the number of LTC rewarded to a miner for confirming a block will reduce from the current 12.5 LTC to 6.25 LTC. The event is expected to have a critical impact on the value of a digital currency just as it influenced past – though relatively meek – LTC price jumps experienced in July 2015 and June 2019.

Prime XBT is confident that Litecoin has only been building momentum and setting a price action base for the past two years.

According to the crypto trading platform's analysis, the uptrend that LTC is experiencing today is expected to persist and peak in 2022.

For 2022 and 2023, Prime XBT expects the Litecoin value to reach the maximum price levels of $2250 and $1000, respectively.

Long Forecast, on the other hand, believes that Litecoin's year-long bull run has run its course. They hold the opinion that it will peak in late 2023 before signalling a bearish market outlook that starts in 2024 and spills into 2025. Their price predictions have Litecoin opening 2022 with $151 as its average price. It will close the year 2022 and kick-off the new year at around $111 but rally back to the modest $208 price range by December 2023.

Litecoin Price Predictions 2024 – 2025 And Beyond

Litecoin, like most other cryptocurrencies, has consistently defied the current price prediction models and technical analysis tools, especially when it comes to long-term outlooks. Unlike stocks and forex, whose technical forecasts may be relatively accurate, crypto prices are more volatile and are influenced by far more volatile internal and external factors.

Nevertheless, these factors haven't stopped Litecoin experts, blockchain industry specialists, and general investors from making price predictions. These will probably never come to pass. But they are critical in helping you gain a better understanding of different Litecoin price dynamics and the impact they may have on your LTC investment.

The Crypto Research Group, for instance, has come up with Litecoin price predictions for up to 2030. The market research company is confident that the LTC uptrend will continue into the foreseeable future – albeit with the usual meek volatilities rocking the current bull run.

By 2025, Crypto Research Group expects the price of one Litecoin to have surpassed the $1200 before tearing above $2500 in 2030.

CoinSwitch is equally optimistic about Litecoin's continued bullish rally. The crypto exchange platform argues that after the 2023 halving process, Litecoin prices will surge. They also hint at the possibility of LTC outshining most of its peers and earning the coveted position of the most traded cryptocurrency.

By 2025, the crypto exchange expects the price of Litecoin to reach $1200, with the 2028 halving process giving it the final push needed to tear above the $1500 mark by 2030.

Past Litecoin Price Predictions That Came True 

Litecoin hasn't gained as much interest from crypto industry players and experts as Bitcoins. Therefore, there hasn't been many independently verifiable Litecoins predictions that came true.

One prediction, however, stands out unmistakable not just because of the uproar it caused within the crypto community but also because of its author – Charlie Lee.

In December 2017, Charlie Lee, Litecoin creator and Managing Director for Litecoin Foundation, published a tweet that most interpreted as a prediction of LTC falling from its current highs of $300+ to $20. The tweet came at a time when LTC's bull run was peaking and said:

"Buying LTC is extremely risky. I expect us to have a multi-year bear market like the one we just had where LTC dropped 90% in value ($48 to $4). So if you can't handle LTC dropping to $20, don't buy!"

Sure enough, the coin set a historical price days later and began a year-long bear run. By December the following year, one Litecoin was trading for as low as $20. Though daringly correct with the prediction, Charlie would be subjected to a lot of criticism from the LTC community, with many accusing him of instigating the BTC bear-run that followed.

He has since distanced himself from the tweet's interpretation, arguing that it was not an LTC price prediction but a warning about the unprecedented volatility of most cryptocurrencies.

The Future Of Litecoin: What Experts Are Saying About Litecoin's Potential Growth

Each of the crypto blockchains available today, including Litecoins, was designed to fulfil a specific purpose. Hardly was a crypto coin ever created to become a tradable financial instrument or an investment vehicle. Litecoin was, for instance, designed to facilitate low-cost payments and transfer of funds across the world. But like Bitcoin and most other altcoins, it has been swallowed by the crypto investment wave and is now used more as a tradable financial investment than a medium of exchange.

All is not lost, though, as different institutions and brands worldwide continue adopting Litecoin and adding it to their list of supported payment methods.

Loop Insights Inc. – a contactless payment solution and AI services provider, became the latest company to start processing Litecoin payments. It effectively joins the growing list of thousands of global institutions that currently support Litecoin's vision of replacing fiat currencies as a payment method.

Charlie Lee and his LTC development team have also proposed several improvements to the Litecoin Blockchain that he hopes will help reignite the Litecoin spark and maintain its price on an upward trajectory. They started with the addition of the Mimblewimble extension that enhances user privacy when interacting with the Litecoins. And it has played a key role in helping LTC keep its head above the $200 mark and add a spark to its year-long bull rally.

Since his pessimistic price prediction in 2017, Charlie Lee has been rather reserved and hasn't commented openly about the price direction he expects the coin to take. However, a cryptic message on his Twitter account last March was interpreted by many as a price prediction and places the LTC price at $6500 by December 2021, which obviously didn't come true.

There have also been talks of Litecoin eventually dethroning Bitcoin as the preferred digital currency and accumulating the largest market capitalization. However, none of the current LTC price predictions seems to support this theory.

Crypto asset investing is highly volatile and unregulated in some EU countries. No consumer protection. Tax on profits may apply.

Conclusion: Will The Price Of Litecoin Rise?

Looking at the Litecoin price predictions by the different crypto industry players and expert investors, you will realize that they all have come to one conclusion – Litecoin price rallies are cyclical. A bear LTC market trend always precedes a bullish outlook that, in turn, paves the way for the next bear run, and the cycle continues.

Nonetheless, most LTC price predictors are confident that if all factors remain constant, the current Litecoin price rally may continue well into the end of the year.

The experts expect the LTC market to turn bearish for the better part of 2022 and early 2023. But unlike past bear markets, especially in 2016, where the LTC price fell to around $4, they expect the next bull to have a support level of around $70 before reversing after the August 2023 halving.

How high can Litecoin prices go?

The highly volatile and unscripted nature of the crypto markets makes it hard to accurately predict the coin's next move or its price performance. The highest price prediction for 2022, however, comes from Cryptocurrency Price Prediction and expects Litecoin to reach $444.

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Crypto asset investing is highly volatile and unregulated in some EU countries. No consumer protection. Tax on profits may apply.