Tokenized RWA Market Crosses $50B as BlackRock BUIDL Hits $10B
Litecoin LTC
Rank #27$53.36▲ +0.85%(24h)▼ +4.39%(7d)
24h Low $51.8124h High $54.04
Market Cap
$4.12B
24h Volume
$246.49M
Circulating
77.2M LTC
All-Time High
$410.26
▼ +87.01% from ATH
Litecoin Price Chart
Key Metrics
Market Cap
$4.12B
Volume (24h)
$246.49M
Circulating Supply
77.2M LTC
Max Supply
84M LTC
Litecoin Converter
Litecoin Converter
LTC
$USD
1 LTC = $53.36
Litecoin Historical Data
| All-Time High | $410.26 (May 10, 2021) |
| All-Time Low | $1.15 (January 14, 2015) |
Where to Buy Litecoin
About Litecoin (LTC)
What is Litecoin?
Litecoin (LTC) is a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency launched on October 7, 2011 by Charlie Lee, a former Google engineer. Lee forked the Bitcoin Core codebase and changed a handful of parameters: a 2.5-minute block time instead of 10 minutes, an 84 million supply cap instead of 21 million, and the scrypt hashing algorithm in place of SHA-256. The pitch from day one has been "digital silver to Bitcoin’s gold" — a faster, cheaper companion to BTC.
Litecoin has often acted as Bitcoin’s testnet in practice. SegWit activated on LTC in May 2017, months before BTC. Lightning Network payments worked on Litecoin in 2018. The MimbleWimble Extension Block (MWEB), which adds optional confidential transactions, went live on LTC in May 2022. Roughly 75 million of the 84 million coins have been mined as of 2025, and the network has run without serious downtime for over a decade.
Litecoin price today
Litecoin trades against the US dollar, USDT, EUR, and BTC on every major exchange. The reference LTC/USD quote on this page comes from a volume-weighted aggregate of spot venues with the deepest order books, refreshed every 60 seconds.
What tends to move LTC on a given week:
- Bitcoin correlation. LTC has tracked BTC closely for most of its history. When BTC rallies or sells off hard, LTC usually follows with a slight delay and a wider amplitude.
- Halving cycle position. LTC halvings have historically front-run their dates by months, with price action priced in well before the supply cut actually lands.
- ETF speculation. Canary Capital filed for a spot LTC ETF in October 2024, and follow-on filings from other issuers have driven short-term rallies on filing news.
- Miner behaviour. Scrypt ASIC miners (Antminer L7 and similar hardware) sell LTC to cover power costs; sustained miner outflows pressure price.
The card above streams a live LTC price; the analysis below uses the levels at page load.
Litecoin halving cycle and the 84M supply cap
Litecoin halves every 840,000 blocks, which works out to roughly four years. Each halving cuts the block reward in half and permanently slows new supply.
The four halvings to date:
- August 2015: block reward dropped from 50 LTC to 25 LTC.
- August 2019: 25 LTC to 12.5 LTC.
- August 2023: 12.5 LTC to 6.25 LTC.
- Next halving expected around August 2027: 6.25 LTC to 3.125 LTC.
About 75 million LTC are already in circulation. The remaining 9 million will trickle out over more than a century, with the final coin mined sometime around 2142. The current block reward of 6.25 LTC means roughly 1.3 million new coins enter the supply each year, and that number keeps shrinking.
Litecoin vs Bitcoin: digital silver vs digital gold
Litecoin started as a fork of Bitcoin, so the family resemblance is obvious. The differences are deliberate: Charlie Lee wanted a coin that confirmed faster and felt cheaper to send. The "digital silver" framing has stuck because silver historically traded as a smaller, more accessible cousin to gold.
- Supply: BTC is capped at 21 million. LTC is capped at 84 million, exactly four times larger.
- Block time: BTC produces a block every 10 minutes. LTC produces one every 2.5 minutes, so confirmations feel near-instant for small payments.
- Mining algorithm: BTC uses SHA-256 (industrial ASICs from Bitmain and MicroBT dominate). LTC uses scrypt, which spent its early years GPU-mineable before scrypt ASICs took over in 2014.
- Fees: LTC transactions typically cost a fraction of a cent. BTC base-layer fees rise into dollars during peak demand.
- Use case: BTC is treated as a reserve asset and store of value. LTC leans toward payments and remittances, where confirmation speed matters more than long-term scarcity narrative.
- All-time high: BTC has set new highs in every cycle. LTC peaked at around $410 in May 2021 and has not reclaimed that level since, which is the gap most LTC critics point at.
Dogecoin is technically a Litecoin fork, and the two networks merge-mine, which is a side effect of sharing scrypt. For longer-term scenarios on LTC specifically, see our Litecoin price forecast.
Litecoin technical features: SegWit, Lightning, MWEB
Litecoin’s technical roadmap has been quiet but consistent. The network keeps shipping the same upgrades Bitcoin debates for years, often earlier and with less drama.
- SegWit: activated May 2017, before Bitcoin. Reduces transaction sizes and enables Lightning compatibility.
- Lightning Network: live since 2018. LTC channels open faster and close cheaper than BTC channels because of the lower base-layer fees.
- MimbleWimble Extension Block (MWEB): activated May 2022. Optional sidechain that hides transaction amounts and addresses. A handful of exchanges delisted LTC in South Korea over MWEB compliance concerns.
- Atomic swaps: trustless on-chain swaps between LTC and BTC have worked since 2017.
- Merge-mining with Dogecoin: scrypt miners can hash both chains at once, which has helped keep DOGE secure and quietly subsidises LTC mining economics.
How to buy Litecoin
LTC is one of the most widely listed coins in crypto. Almost every regulated exchange has a LTC/USD or LTC/USDT pair, and most also support direct fiat on-ramps. The order of operations is straightforward.
- Choose an exchange. You want a venue with deep LTC liquidity, transparent fees, and a clean security record. Compare options on our exchange ratings page.
- Complete identity verification. Regulated platforms require a government ID and a quick liveness check. KYC usually clears within 10 to 30 minutes.
- Deposit funds. Bank transfers (ACH, SEPA, Faster Payments) cost the least but settle in 1 to 3 business days. Card purchases are instant but typically add 2 to 4% in fees. USDT or USDC deposits land in minutes for cents.
- Place the buy order. A market order fills immediately at the best available price; a limit order lets you set the maximum you are willing to pay. For larger size, splitting the order over a few hours reduces market impact.
- Move LTC to self-custody. A hardware wallet (Ledger, Trezor) or a vetted software wallet (Litewallet, Electrum-LTC) keeps the keys with you. Coins on an exchange share the exchange’s custody risk.
Always send a small test transaction (a dollar or two of LTC) before moving a larger balance. The fee is negligible and a misrouted transfer cannot be reversed.
Litecoin ETF and institutional interest
Spot LTC ETF filings started landing in late 2024. Canary Capital filed in October 2024, and additional issuers, including CoinShares, have followed. As of 2025, no spot Litecoin ETF has been approved by the SEC, and the regulatory path is less certain than it was for BTC or ETH because LTC has weaker volume and a smaller institutional footprint. CME does not list LTC futures, which removes one of the structural arguments that helped Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs across the line.
Outside the ETF question, institutional LTC holdings are modest. Grayscale runs a small Litecoin Trust (LTCN) that has traded at significant discounts to NAV for most of its life. Most institutional crypto allocation models lean BTC and ETH first; LTC is treated as a tactical position rather than a core holding.
Risks of holding Litecoin
Price volatility is the headline risk. Litecoin’s specific risks — declining mindshare and miner concentration — matter just as much.
- Mindshare drift. LTC has lost narrative ground to faster L1s and to stablecoins, which now do most of the cross-border payment work LTC was originally pitched for.
- Drawdowns. LTC fell over 90% from its $410 May 2021 peak during the 2022 bear market. Position sizes should assume similar swings are possible.
- Founder governance. Charlie Lee selling his entire LTC stack in December 2017, near the cycle top, is still the most-cited governance question about the project. He has stayed involved through the Litecoin Foundation but no longer holds a meaningful position.
- Miner concentration. Scrypt mining is dominated by a small number of Antminer L7 farms. A meaningful share of hashrate sits with a few operators.
- Regulatory friction. MWEB’s privacy features triggered delistings on several exchanges in jurisdictions with strict travel-rule requirements (notably South Korea).
- No native yield. LTC is proof-of-work, so there is no staking. Any "LTC staking" product is wrapping LTC into a custodial lending product, which carries counterparty risk.
This page is information, not financial advice. Talk to someone licensed before allocating real capital.
Litecoin price analysis
At the time of writing, Litecoin (LTC) trades at $53.36, with a 24-hour trading volume of $246.49M and a total market capitalization of $4.12B. The asset is currently ranked #27 among all tracked cryptocurrencies by market cap.
Over the last 24 hours, the LTC price has rose +0.85%. On the seven-day chart, Litecoin has retraced +4.39%, showing mixed signals across the short and medium term. Short-term price swings are often amplified by liquidity conditions, news flow, and derivatives positioning, so traders should confirm signals across multiple indicators before acting.
Litecoin's all-time high of $410.26 was set on May 10, 2021. The current market price is +87.01% below that historical peak. Distance from the all-time high is a common reference point when evaluating long-term recoveries and identifying macro support or resistance levels.
How to buy Litecoin
Buying Litecoin (LTC) is straightforward once you know which exchange to use and which trading pair offers the best liquidity. The steps below describe the typical flow used by most investors today.
- Choose a reputable exchange. Pick a platform that lists LTC with deep liquidity, transparent fees, and strong security practices. Our top-rated exchanges guide compares the leading venues side-by-side.
- Create and verify your account.Complete the exchange's KYC process — most platforms require a government-issued ID and a short identity check. Verification is usually a one-time step that takes just a few minutes.
- Deposit funds. Fund your account with fiat currency via bank transfer, card, or a stablecoin like USDT or USDC. Stablecoin deposits typically offer the fastest settlement and lowest fees.
- Place a buy order. Navigate to the LTC/USD or LTC/USDT pair and either execute a market order for instant fills or set a limit order at your preferred entry price.
- Secure your LTC. For long-term holdings, consider moving your tokens to a non-custodial wallet — a hardware device for the highest security, or a reputable software wallet for frequent access.
You can also use the built-in Litecoin converter above to estimate exactly how much LTC you would receive for a given amount in USD before placing an order.
Is Litecoin a good investment?
Whether Litecoin is a good investment depends on your goals, time horizon, and tolerance for volatility. Like all cryptocurrencies, LTC carries significant market risk — prices can rise or fall sharply in a single day, and past performance is not a reliable indicator of future returns.
Potential strengths
- Ranked #27 by market cap with an established trading history and active exchange coverage.
- Transparent on-chain data: real-time supply, circulation metrics, and publicly auditable transactions.
- Ongoing ecosystem development and community engagement, as reflected in Infrastructure, Smart Contract Platform sector activity.
Key risks to consider
- Volatility: 24-hour moves of 5–15% are common in crypto markets.
- Regulatory uncertainty: changes in policy across major jurisdictions can materially affect price and access.
- Liquidity and custody risk: not all exchanges are equally safe, and self-custody requires careful key management.
This page provides data and analysis for educational purposes only. It is not financial advice. Always do your own research, diversify, and never invest more than you can afford to lose.
FAQ
What is Litecoin used for?
Litecoin is mainly used for payments, remittances, and as a faster, cheaper alternative to Bitcoin transfers. Some holders also treat it as a long-term position alongside BTC. The 2.5-minute block time and sub-cent fees make LTC practical for small day-to-day transactions, and the network supports Lightning for instant micro-payments.
How is Litecoin different from Bitcoin?
Litecoin has a 2.5-minute block time (vs Bitcoin’s 10 minutes), an 84 million supply cap (vs 21 million), and uses the scrypt mining algorithm instead of SHA-256. It typically has lower transaction fees and confirms faster, but it lacks Bitcoin’s institutional adoption and reserve-asset narrative. The two assets often move together; LTC tends to be more volatile in both directions.
Is Litecoin a good investment?
It depends on your time horizon and risk tolerance. LTC has been a top-20 cryptocurrency for over a decade, which is rare for any altcoin. It has also lost relative ground to newer chains and has not reclaimed its 2021 high. Anyone considering an allocation should size the position to survive an 80% drawdown without forced selling.
When is the next Litecoin halving?
The next Litecoin halving is expected around August 2027, when the block reward drops from 6.25 LTC to 3.125 LTC. Halvings occur every 840,000 blocks, which averages about four years. The exact date depends on block production, since blocks come slightly faster or slower than the 2.5-minute target.
Can you stake Litecoin?
No. Litecoin is a proof-of-work coin, so there is no native staking and no protocol-level yield. Any product marketed as "LTC staking" is a custodial lending or yield product run by a third party, where you give up your coins in exchange for an interest rate. That structure adds counterparty risk that native LTC holding does not carry.
What was the highest LTC price?
Litecoin’s all-time high was around $410, set in May 2021 during the broader crypto cycle peak. LTC has not retested that level since. The previous cycle high was approximately $360 in December 2017. Both peaks lined up closely with Bitcoin tops, which is consistent with LTC’s historical correlation to BTC.
Will there be a Litecoin ETF?
Spot LTC ETF applications have been filed by Canary Capital (October 2024) and others. As of 2025, none has been approved by the SEC. The path is less certain than it was for Bitcoin or Ethereum because Litecoin has no listed futures on CME, which makes the regulatory argument harder. Approval timing depends on SEC posture and how the underlying market structure evolves.
Is Litecoin legal?
Litecoin is legal in most countries that permit cryptocurrency, including the US, the UK, the EU, Canada, Japan, and Australia. A few jurisdictions ban or heavily restrict crypto generally (China, Algeria). Some exchanges in South Korea have delisted LTC over MWEB privacy features, so local availability varies even where the asset itself is legal.
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