Litecoin hashrate doubles as price dips

The increase means significantly more mining power is now verifying transactions than a year ago, when the 1.7 PH/s threshold was being marked as a key milestone.

In proof-of-work blockchains such as Litecoin, hashrate measures the total mining power deployed to process blocks. A higher figure raises the cost of an attack, because a malicious actor would need to control a larger share of the network’s total computational power to rewrite transactions or disrupt block production. With hashrate now at 3.7 PH/s, it is harder and more expensive for attackers to gain majority control than it was at this time last year.

The network’s mining difficulty has risen alongside the hashrate increase. Data shared by the foundation place current difficulty at 118.2 million, up from 49.3 million a year ago, more than a 2.4x jump. Difficulty adjusts in response to changes in mining power to keep block times steady; higher values typically reflect new hardware deployments and sustained miner participation.

The Litecoin Foundation drew attention to the shift, noting that hashrate “this time last year was 1.7 PH/s” and is now “cranking at 3.7 PH/s,” describing the network as “ever expanding.” The foundation also linked the rise in hashrate and difficulty to increased miner investment and an intention to strengthen protection against potential attacks on the chain.

Despite the network’s higher security metrics, Litecoin’s market performance has remained weak in recent days. Over the past week, LTC has fallen by about 8.11%, underperforming the broader crypto market. At press time, the coin was trading around $93.56, down roughly 2.2% over the last 24 hours, after failing to hold a rebound attempt from $92.46 to an intraday high near $97.35.

Trading activity around Litecoin has also cooled. Reported 24-hour volume stands at about $615 million, a drop of 35.18% compared with previous readings. Capital has partly rotated into other assets, including privacy-focused coins such as Zcash, contributing to Litecoin’s inability to regain and hold the $100 psychological level for now.

The combination of a stronger security profile and soft price action means Litecoin is currently showing a gap between its underlying mining metrics and short-term market behavior. While hashrate and difficulty continue to rise, spot LTC trades below recent peaks, with sellers keeping pressure on rallies and keeping the token under triple-digit prices in the latest sessions.