Litecoin (LTC) price is seeing some positive developments supporting its market performance lately. A large percentage of LTC in circulation is held by retail investors, not institutions.
Further, Litecoin has also outpaced Bitcoin in TPS growth, adding to the optimistic outlook for the coin.
Currently ranked the 19th-biggest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, LTC price is eyeing the $120 mark.
However, hitting this milestone is largely dependent on its 8,700,000 retail network users.
Litecoin Retail Holder Count
As revealed in a recent X post, the number of retail users holding Litecoin has grown exponentially.
Notably, a total of 8.7 million users are actively using it for everyday purposes like payments, transfers, or holding, rather than passive investors.
The Litecoin network highlighted that 8.7 million users are solely active customers and not wallets.
It is important to highlight this distinction because wallets or addresses in crypto are misleading metrics.
For instance, one person can control dozens of addresses. Also, exchanges can pool millions under single wallets for users, while bots inflate counts.
Hence, the 8.7 million figure is a refined estimate of unique human users, emphasizing real-world traction rather than just speculative hype.
This increased activity on the Litecoin network signals a growing investor’s confidence. LTC is one of the most used cryptocurrencies for real-world transactions on some processors, with near-instant confirmations.
Listings on major exchanges like Binance, mobile wallets, and integrations with services like MoneyGram make LTC more accessible to users.
LTC Retail Investors vs Digital Asset Treasury Firms
The team has also emphasized the dominance of retail investors compared to institutions or whales.
Retail refers to everyday individual investors using personal wallets or exchange accounts, as opposed to large institutions.
Everyday investors are currently holding the majority of Litecoin’s circulating supply, reinforcing its identity as a decentralized, accessible “blue collar working coin.”
As disclosed in the official X account, retail users holds over 50% of all Litecoin in circulation. For context, the total supply is capped at 84 million LTC.
This balance between institutions and retail reduces manipulation risks. While institutions bring liquidity and legitimacy, retail keeps Litecoin for everyday use.
Meanwhile, the growth of LTC retail investors is closely linked to lower fees and fast transaction processing time on the network.
Since its inception in 2011, Litecoin’s transactions per second (TPS) have outgrown that of Bitcoin by nearly two times. This positions it as a more scalable alternative to Bitcoin.
Why Litecoin (LTC) Price is Poised for More Growth
Further, the Litecoin (LTC) crypto is showing growth signs in its price movement. In the past 24 hours, the LTC price value has surged 1.9% to $95.48.
Litecoin recently recorded a strong rebound from its 7-year trendline support. This level represents a foundation for long-term reversals through several market cycles.
Analysts have projected the next short-term target at $120, as long as the ongoing bullish momentum is sustained. A more bolder LTC price prediction targets LTC at $240.
Crucially, the Litecoin ecosystem is well developed, making it a top choice for users. Anyone can mine it with the appropriate mining software or buy it on exchanges.
This ensures that everyone has equal access to Litecoin, leading to fairness in the market.
Additionally, Litecoin has a halving event of mining rewards about every four years. It works very similarly to Bitcoin, so the value grows over time.
This mechanism is a perfect hedge against inflation and for securing the wealth of LTC investors and traders.
Another key point to note is that the blockchain has had an uptime of 100% since its launch on October 13, 2011.
That is over 14 years of protection against attacks and network outages, making LTC one of the safest coins on the market.