The fifth largest cryptocurrency surges past $80 per coin
The fifth largest cryptocurrency on the market surpassed $80 per coin Friday afternoon, as more well-known digital currencies such as bitcoin and ethereum continue to reach new heights. Litecoin is up 12.98% since yesterday at $82.50 per coin.
Cryptocurrencies are powered by distributed ledger technology and are not controlled by a centralized authority. The market for these coins and tokens has exploded this year with the total market cap for the industry now more than $170 billion, according to data from Coinmarketcap.com.
Litecoin came on the scene in 2013 and for most of its existence, it has only been worth a couple bucks. On March 30, the price of Litecoin skyrocketed 70% from about $4 per coin to $7, according to cryptocurrency news site, CoinDesk.
At the time, market experts attributed the spike to litecoin's potential adoption of Segregated Witness, a software update to increase transaction speed. Litecoin successfully activated SegWit in May.
Aaron Lasher, the chief marketing officer of Breadwallet, a bitcoin technology company, told Business Insider he thinks folks are pouring into litecoin because they don't want to miss out on the next bitcoin.
"I think it's best understood in the context of an overall crypto bubble," Dwyer said. "The wave is so strong that all crypto coins are riding high."
Still, Lasher wishes he hadn't sold his coins.
Oliver Isaacs, a cryptocurrency investor, told Business Insider he sold his litecoins when they reached $77 per coin. According to Isaacs, litecoin is among the strongest cryptocurrencies, as it is supported by Coinbase, one of the largest exchanges, and has a stable infrastructure.
"It has faster transactions enabled compared to bitcoin (2 minutes compared to 100 minutes) and a limited supply," he said.
Bitcoin recently surpassed $4,800, up over 700% since 2016. Ether, the token powering the ethereum blockchain, is up 3,300% during the same time period.
Litecoin is up nearly 2,000% since last year.
