Although crypto markets have given back some of their earlier gains, they are still notably higher than where they were this time yesterday.
While bitcoin (BTC) has been the biggest mover in the top ten based on dollar value, the biggest percentage change has come from popular altcoin Litecoin (LTC).
At the time of writing the Litecoin price is up 7% over the last 24 hours to US$129.52 per coin. This has increased its market capitalisation to approximately US$7.25 billion.
Why has Litecoin surged higher?
Traders have been returning to the altcoin after reports emerged confirming that an American Express-backed crypto startup, Abra, has decided to use Litecoin's smart contracts offering to power its exchange and wallet products.
According to a Reddit AMA session, when questioned about its decision to go with Litecoin, Abra's CEO Bill Barhydt told readers that:
"We went with Litecoin as the second asset class, after bitcoin, for our smart contract investing solution for 3 primary reasons: 1. commitment to bitcoin compatibility: core roadmap, p2sh support, lightning support, etc; 2. slightly better scalability than bitcoin in short term (block size and block times); 3. mining fees which are primarily a function of #2 although this is more of a short term benefit as mining fees would likely sky rocket if we're successful anyway!"
Barhydt went on to explain that: "The primary asset class is now litecoin but we're in a transition away from bitcoin to litecoin which will take several weeks."
What is Abra?
Abra is a non-custodial cryptocurrency wallet which gives users the freedom to invest in multiple cryptocurrencies, and to send and receive bitcoin and over 50 fiat currencies.
While crypto startups are a dime a dozen at the moment, Abra has been attracting investment from heavyweights including AMEX, Foxconn, and Fidelity.
Having Abra migrate over to Litecoin from bitcoin certainly is a positive and I can't say that I'm overly surprised to see its price rise higher today. Time will tell if it can build on these gains in overnight trade.
