Four days later( August 5th), the half-life of Litecoin comes!
The half-life of the world’s fourth-largest cryptocurrency Litecoin (LTC) based on market capitalization has come four days ahead.
Litecoin is coded to reduce mining compensation by half when the total number of mined blocks, such as Bitcoin, exceeds the predefined limits. Whenever a block is mined, 25 reward coins(about 2.85 million won) will be reduced to 12.5 after the half-day of 5th. Naturally, the rate at which the total supply of Litecoin increases is also significantly reduced.
The half-life of a cryptocurrency seems to be similar to the central bank’s interest rate being raised by soothing high inflation. So some people think that purchasing Litecoin before half-life is a benefit.
However, the price of Litecoin is expected to rise only slightly until half-life. Looking at the past six months’ price trends, we can see. Earlier investors bought Litecoin before the expected half-life, and Litecoin prices have already risen to come in this year.
In the first quarter when the winter of cryptocurrency still remained, it showed high alone in the highway.
The price of Litecoin, which traded at $ 30 per unit on January 1 of this year, increased to $ 61 on March 31, 100%. The first quarter of 2019 was recorded the most successful quarter of Litecoin after it came into the world. At that time, it was still before the end of the winter of cryptocurrency, and the price of Bitcoin remained almost unchanged for three months, so the movement of Litecoin was even better.
The price of Bitcoin has started to rebound in earnest on April 2, with the price of the major defensive line surpassing $ 4236 per unit. But Litecoin has continued to rise alone long before that. Even though it dropped back to $ 80 per unit at the beginning of the month, but once in June, the price of Litecoin soared to $ 140 per unit.
In addition to the price index, Litecoin has been strong since mid-December last year. Over the past two months, several indicators have been updated to record highs, a typical indicator is the hash rate that means the sum of the computing power put into mining. Litecoin’s hash rate rose 258% from 146.21 TH / s last December to 523.81 TH / s on July 14 last year.
The past is a mirror of the future?
Litecoin’s last half-life was four years ago, August 25, 2015. The price of Litecoin, which had been going up for several months ahead of its half-life, plummeted at a moment when the half-life was approaching. Litecoin prices, which were $ 1.12 / unit in January 2015, jumped to $ 8.72 / unit in July but plummeted to $ 2.55 just before the half-life. After the half-year, it did not exceed $ 2.5 to $ 5.5 over a year and a half but rose sharply in April 2017 in line with the general upward trend in cryptocurrencies’ price.
The price also climbed 100% in the first quarter and jumped to $ 145 per unit in June at the time. So far, it is similar to the pattern seen in the last half-life. If the past turns out to be a mirror of the future, Litecoin will not have a big price change after half-life. The other largest variable will be the price jump or sharp decline in the Bitcoin, which has the greatest impact on the overall market for cryptocurrency.
Once the hash rate is reduced
The half-life means that the compensation for mining is reduced by half. The difficulty of mining, the difficulty of mathematical problems that must be solved to verify transactions and mined blocks, does not mean that the half-life is coming right away. Hash rate will be lowered as miners evict others to mining other cryptocurrencies.
However, if the compensation for mining is halved, the inflation rate will decrease from 8.4% per year to 4% per year, which will reduce the cost of mining in the long run. As revenues (mining compensation) are reduced but costs are lowered, when the miners return to the Litecoin network again, the hash rate will increase, seeking a new equilibrium at a level comparable to that before the half-life.
Four years ago, the hash rate of Litecoin has fallen by 15% ahead of its half-life but gradually recovered to its original level for two weeks after the half-life.
( Source: Coindeskkorea )
