LiteCoin, a major alt-coin (cryptocurrency other than Bitcoin), witnessed a whopping 25% rise in value after Litepay, a LiteCoin payment processing startup, announced plans to commence operations by February 26. Modelled after Bitpay, the Bitcoin payment processing firm, Litepay claims it would enable businesses to accept LiteCoin by offering real time LiteCoin to fiat money conversion. Litepay added that it would also issue LiteCoin denominated debit cards that can be used anywhere just like fiat money debit cards, after the cards are loaded with LiteCoin.
Trading at $207 a coin as of writing, LiteCoin holders have gained massively after the San Francisco based startup made the announcement on Twitter. Though the announcement was made earlier on February 13, it has taken quite some time for the information to reflect on markets.
Litecoin is at its highest valuation (in USD) since 2015 with this rally. Some also attribute the rise to increased buying ahead of a hard fork carried out successfully on February 19. Named LiteCoin Cash, the hard fork hasn’t seen any active trading after its creation.
Nauticus: How an ICO is helping save the world’s oceans