Litecoin Hash Rate Is Still Dropping: Is This A Worrying Sign?

The Litecoin network and its hash rate has dropped 60% since its halving. The big question as the Litecoin hash rate drops is – is this a worrying sign and will the cryptocurrency recover?

The network behind Litecoin (LTC) is rapidly becoming less secure. Ever since the new amount of Litecoin being mined was cut in half on August 5, the network and its hash rate (the computing power that protects the network from attack) has similarly fallen.

Every four years, the Litecoin network undergoes a halving where the mining rewards that the cryptocurrency miners receive for mining new blocks get cut in half. The situation is the same with Bitcoin – when this occurs, it is uneconomical to continue spending computational resources earning new coins.

As the Litecoin hash rate is dropping, the founder of the network Charlie Lee argued that miners would continue protecting the network. Ever since the latest mining block rewards decline, the total hash rate on the Litecoin mining network has dropped over 60% from around 500 TH/s to its current level of 193 TH/s. It has been heading rapidly towards the lowest point since March 2018 – 146 TH/s.

Even though this is not the first time that the network hash rate has been in a downturn, the Litecoin hash rate is falling faster than it has ever before. This could be a problem for the network’s security.

The reason why a high hash rate for Litecoin is important right now is because it protects the network from attack. Earlier this year, the Ethereum Classic news showed that ETC suffered a 51% attack where some actors took control of the network by having more hashing power and stealing more than $1 million as a result of this. Because the hash rate was so low, ETC has fallen.

While Litecoin is harder to attack than Ethereum Classic (ETC), there is more money on the line, making it a quite bigger target. Still, the Litecoin news show that the cryptocurrency is vulnerable. As its hash rate continues to drop, it now presents a different picture. And if the LTC price keeps falling, its hash rate could drop even further.