Litecoin (LTC) creator Charlie Lee has predicted that miners might shut up store after the coin’s upcoming halving this summer time.
In an interview with Australian crypto information website Mickey on July 10, Lee mirrored on the attainable implications for Litecoin’s mining ecosystem when the deliberate halving kicks in and present block rewards on the community are lowered by 50%. “It’s at all times sort of a shock to the system,” he mentioned, explaining:
“When the mining rewards get lower in half, some miners is not going to be worthwhile and they’re going to shut off their machine. If an enormous proportion does that, then blocks will decelerate for a while. For litecoin it’s three and a half days earlier than the following change, so probably like seven days of slower blocks, after which after that, the issue will readjust and every little thing will likely be nice.”
On condition that the discount of mining rewards reduces the cryptocurrency’s provide, anticipation of the halving is usually regarded as accompanied by a corresponding value appreciation — however Lee gave a extra nuanced perspective of how provide, demand and market sentiment interrelate:
“When it comes to the worth, the halvening needs to be priced in as a result of everybody is aware of about it because the starting. However the factor is folks sort of anticipate the worth to go up. So lots of people are shopping for in as a result of they anticipate the worth to go up and that’s sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy. So, as a result of they’re shopping for in, the worth does really go up.”
As Mickey notes, Litecoin’s final halving — again in August 2015 — noticed the coin peaking in early July of that yr, happening to lose nearly 50% in worth by the point of the block rewards discount — and hitting a 75% within the halving’s aftermath.
To press time, Litecoin is reporting an nearly 36% acquire on its 3-month chart, however stays nearly 67% down from its all-time highs in December 2017, in response to Coin360 data.
LTC 3-month value chart. Supply: Coin360
In the meantime, Anthony Pompliano — the co-founder of crypto asset administration agency Morgan Creek Digital Belongings — has just lately predicted that one of many largest drivers of continued value appreciation for prime crypto Bitcoin (BTC) will likely be its halving, citing traditional supply-demand economics as a significant contributing issue to his $100,000 forecast by the top of 2021.
