The Litecoin price (LTC/USD) surged past the $100 mark on Monday as mining rewards on the network were halved.
The digital currency experienced some mixed trading over the weekend, as its price struggled to hold above the $95 mark. The coin rose to as high as $96.84 on Saturday, but eventually closed the session at $94.58, slightly below its opening level of $95.02.
The coin experienced a much steeper drop on Sunday morning, when it price plunged to a four-day low of $91.45, from its opening level of $94.60. While the coin’s performance improved in the afternoon, LTC remained in the negative territory. The coin finished the day at $93.20, according to data from digital currency tracker Coinmarketcap.
Despite its weekend struggles, Litecoin enjoyed a strong start to today’s session, which allowed the coin to come within striking distance of the $100 mark. LTC broke through the barrier in late morning trading, when its price surged to a 16-day high of $104.36. The coin has since pulled back to slightly lower levels and currently trading at around $102.60.
The latest surge comes as Litecoin halve the reward for discovering a block on the Litecoin network. Industry website Coindesk reported that the event occurred 10:16 UTC (11:16 BST) today, when the blockchain reached block height of 1,680,000. The network is designed to halve its mining rewards every 840,000 blocks, or roughly every four years. Today’s halving reduced the reward to 12.5 LTC, from 25 previously.
In today’s trading, the Litecoin price stood at $102.61, as of 12:19 BST. The digital currency has gained 11.4% in the past 24 hours, Coinmarketcap data shows. The coin’s total market cap currently stands at nearly $6.5 billion, which makes LTC the forth-largest digital coin on the market.
Meanwhile, LTC’s 24-hour trading volume has risen to $3.47 billion, significantly surpassing the $2.4 billion generated during the previous session.
Featured image: Wit Olszewski / Shutterstock.com
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