A lot has changed since Litecoin launched in 2011 with a maximum supply of 84 million LTC as a silver to Bitcoin gold. The cryptocurrency recently ended its run third halving in Augustultimately reducing the number of LTC miners received as a reward for mining a block from 12.5 LTC to 6.25 LTC.
Over the past 12 years, much of this supply has been distributed to miners in the form of block rewards for validating Litecoin transactions. At the time of writing, there are 73.76 million LTC in circulation, and data shows that this supply is concentrated among immense holders.
Estimates from cryptocurrency analytics platform IntoTheBlock show that over 49% of LTC is held in accounts with over 0.1% of the circulating supply. BitInfo Charts also lists addresses with over 100,000 LTC representing 38.01% of the total supply.
Source: IntoTheBlock
Who are the largest Litecoin wallet holders today?
Litecoin’s total supply of 84 million has been distributed over the last 12 years through mining rewards and market trading. The largest wallet addresses include immense miners who have accumulated Litecoin from years of mining and cryptocurrency exchanges. Charlie Lee, its creator, claims to have sold or donated all the LTC tokens in his collection.
The honor of Litecoin’s largest wallet address belongs to “M8T1B”, accounting for 3.34% of the total circulating supply. This wallet holds 2,504,667 LTC worth $158,105,141 at the current market price.
Next is “ltc1qr” with 2,225,000 LTC worth $140,451,374. Wallets with addresses “MQd1f” and “ltc1qn” are third and fourth in the rankings, holding 1,344,464 LTC and 1,097,050 LTC worth $84,868,217 and $69,250,423 respectively. According to BitInfoCharts data, these four largest addresses account for 8.18% of all coins in circulation.
Source: BitInfoCharts
The other top whales were the addresses “ltc1q2” and “MQSs1” with LTC 927,542 ($58,550,373) and LTC 745,000 ($47,027,540), respectively. A review of the data shows that these six addresses are Litecoin blockchain whales holding over 1% of the circulating supply. IntoTheBlock metrics indicate that the total concentration of these whales is 11.88% (8.84 million LTC).
The wallets “MB8nnF”, “MFULdM”, “MESruS” and “LZEjck” complete the top ten rankings with LTC 513,259, LTC 472,674, LTC 416,688 and LTC 394,044 respectively.
What does the distribution of Litecoin supply mean for the future?
There seems to be a numb buzz in the whale market sellers still maintain control over the market. As a result, inflows into wallets with at least 0.1% of circulating supply have declined by 91.07% over the past three months.
Source: IntoTheBlock
Since 87% of LTC has already been mined, the rate of novel supply will decline over time. This can support price stability and sustainable development. Litecoin is currently trading at $63.07 and like all cryptocurrencies, and pseudonymous cryptocurrency analyst P_S_trade predicts Litecoin may soon rise to $84.
According to historical data compiled by cryptocurrency analyst Tony “The Bull”, Litecoin has always retreated by 70% in the weeks following previous halvings. However, the recently concluded halving may present a different narrative.
Litecoin is currently traded on range since last week and is struggling to maintain gains of 2.35% over the last 24 hours.
LTC price holding above $62 | Source: LTCUSDT on Tradingview.com
Featured image from Investopedia, chart from Tradingview.com
