Over the past 24 hours, the Litecoin price has surged by nearly 10 percent, increasing from below $270 to $300.
Surpasses Charlie Lee’s Expectation
On CNBC’s Squawk Box, Litecoin creator and former Coinbase executive Charlie Lee stated that he would be satisfied if the price of Litecoin remains in the $300 region by the end of 2018.
The statement of Lee came after the price of Litecoin increased by nearly five-fold since November. In mid-November, on November 16, the price of Litecoin across major markets averaged at around $63. At the time of reporting, the price of Litecoin remains above $300.
“I would be happy if Litecoin stays at around $300 by the end of next year. It’s still very surprising how much it has grown this year,.” said Lee, offering a more conservative prediction on the price of Litecoin throughout the next 12 months.
Within 12 months, the value of Litecoin surged by more than 8,000 percent, outperforming most cryptocurrencies and assets in the market. Previously, Lee emphasized that after a strong rally almost always comes a bearish cycle and encouraged traders to invest responsibly.
“Every crypto bull run I’ve seen has been followed by a bear cycle. The market needs time to consolidate. That’s just my experience from 7 years of watching this space. How low and how long it will be is TBD. People need to be aware of this possibility and invest responsibly,” Lee added.
While Lee admitted that emerging markets such as South Korea have been pushing the price of leading cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin, such trend is not entirely beneficial for the cryptocurrency market given the lack of regulatory frameworks in emerging markets.
The South Korean government only began to impose strict regulations on cryptocurrency businesses and investors this week, as CCN reported. The four regulations the South Korean government intends to regulate by the year’s end are:
- Prevent unaccredited investors from dealing with losses through highly volatile cryptocurrencies.
- Prevent strictly regulated cryptocurrency exchanges from operating as speculative platforms for unaccredited investors.
- Request banks and exchanges to ensure underaged investors and foreigners cannot open trading accounts on cryptocurrency exchanges.
- Temporarily suspend institutional investors and retail investors from investing in cryptocurrencies.
Unlike most currencies in the market, Litecoin’s trading volumes are not centralized in South Korea. Rather, the majority of Litecoin trades are processed by US-based exchanges such as GDAX, the flagship trading platform of Coinbase.
Litecoin’s US Market
By 2018, cryptocurrencies with volumes heavily concentrated in the South Korean cryptocurrency exchange market will likely experience a short-term decline in value, as the South Korean government moves to restrict investors and businesses in the space.
In the long-term, South Korea’s imposition of regulations on its local cryptocurrency market will have a positive impact in the industry. However, in the upcoming months, cryptocurrencies like Ripple, Zcash, and Monero that are concentrated in the South Korean market will likely underperform against currencies such as Litecoin, bitcoin, and Ethereum.