Litecoin overtakes Bitcoin: Is there a new sheriff in town?

• LTC’s share of the global payments surged to 34.9% in June, up from 28.78% in May.
• Riding on the positive sentiment, LTC stormed to a 14-month high earlier in the week.

In a massive boost for the Litecoin [LTC] ecosystem, LTC became the most used crypto for payments for the first time in June, outperforming all major assets, including Bitcoin [BTC].

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As tracked by the world’s largest payment processor BitPay, LTC’s share of the global payments surged to 34.9% in June, a sharp uptick from 28.78% during May. In the process, the “Silver” marginally outpaced the “Gold,” as Bitcoin’s share dropped from 36.39% to 34.06%.

Source: BitPay

Reacting to this significant development, the creator of Litecoin, Charlie Lee, remarked,

“Tbh, I wasn’t sure we’d see this day, but it happened! Litecoin payments on BitPay surpassed even Bitcoin.”

LTC flexing muscles

LTC has been building strong momentum as its widely anticipated halving event is just round the corner. It was one of the top gainers in the last month among assets, with a market valuation of more than $2 billion. Riding on the positive sentiment, the coin stormed to a 14-month high of $113 earlier in the week, as per CoinMarketCap

It was worth noting that LTC’s total transaction count increased significantly in June, reaching levels comparable to Bitcoin’s daily tally in several cases, as per Glassnode.

Litecoin’s demand for facilitating transactions has grown sharply since May when users who were bogged down by huge transaction fees on Bitcoin chose to shift towards less expensive alternatives.

Source: Glassnode

Big addresses offload en masse

LTC whales succumbed to the urge to lock profits and sold a big chunk of their holdings. According to Santiment, the number of addresses holding between 1,000-10,000 coins, categorized as small whales, dropped significantly over the past week.

A similar case was encountered for the cohort holding between 100,000-1 million BTCs.

This was also demonstrated by the drop-offs in the Mean Coin Age indicator. Thus, there was increased movement of LTC between addresses.

Source: Santiment

How much are 1,10,100 LTCs worth today?

However, with the upcoming halving event less than a month away, whales would be looking to rethink their marketing strategies. Historically, LTC prices have soared both before and in the aftermath of the halving.

Hence, it won’t be surprising if these addresses start piling up LTC coins in the run-up to the event.