Share this article
Litecoin Successfully Activates SegWit
The litecoin network has officially upgraded its code to support Segregated Witness, enabling users to send news kinds of transactions today.
Updated Sep 11, 2021, 1:18 p.m. Published May 10, 2017, 5:00 p.m.
Make us preferred on Google
A long-debated change originally intended to improve bitcoin has now locked in on the lesser-known cryptocurrency network litecoin.
Segregated Witness (SegWit) has been the subject of bitcoin's infamous scaling debate for a couple of years now, but it's now getting an opportunity to shine on litecoin, or so its supporters argue, leading some to believe that it will now help reveal whether concerns about the change are valid for bitcoin.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
The change first locked-in two weeks ago, leading to two more weeks of waiting to ensure demand for the upgrade remained consistent. Earlier today, the change activated at block 1201536.
What does that mean? Litecoin users can now begin using the new style of transaction, and there has been at least one such transaction so far.
However, most advocates are excited about the new technologies that can now be built on top of a network with SegWit. For example, the Lightning Network, which could boost litecoin transactions by as much as a million times, can now hypothetically be used to move real money.
Litecoin developer Loshan T told CoinDesk:
"I think today will be a great day for pushing more awesome tech into Litecoin. With SegWit activated on litecoin's mainnet, I cannot wait until we deploy confidential transactions, Lightning Networks, MAST and Schnorr signatures."
Still, these projects are rather early stage. Developers from the startup Lightning Labs, at least, seem to think that it’s too early to talk about sending money over the still-experimental network and plan to continue improving their code first.
Uncertain future
It's unclear what exactly this activation means and what role litecoin will play in the future.
Loshan mentioned that some onlookers are skeptical that litecoin really needs the Lightning Network, since litecoin transaction blocks are not yet full, but pointed to trustless cross-chain transactions between bitcoin and litecoin as a potential Lightning use case that the developer believes could benefit both cryptocurrencies.
One piece is that wallets will need to upgrade to support the type of transactions. Multi-signature wallet mSIGNA, for example, has done so.
Further, there were some worries about the activation – some logistical and some political. Earlier high-level analysis showed that developers are unsure whether all miners and exchanges are completely prepared for the change.
Time will tell if these concerns mean anything. Less than an hour after the change, the cryptocurrency appears to be operating normally.
Litecoin image via SegWit tracker website
More For You
KuCoin captured a record share of centralised exchange volume in 2025, with more than $1.25tn traded as its volumes grew faster than the wider crypto market.
What to know:
- KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
- This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
- Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly split, each exceeding $500 billion for the year, signalling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
- Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
- Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.
More For You
Here's what bitcoin bulls are saying as price remains stuck during global rally
It's about a lot more than "zooming out." Supply overhangs and investor "muscle memory" regarding gold help explain bitcoin's poor absolute and relative performance.
What to know:
- Bitcoin has failed so far to act as an inflation hedge or safe-haven asset, lagging badly behind gold, which has surged amid high inflation, wars, and interest rate uncertainty.
- Crypto advocates argue that bitcoin’s weakness reflects a temporary supply overhang, investor “muscle memory” favoring familiar precious metals and its correlation with risk assets, rather than a collapse in long-term demand.
- Many bitcoin proponents still see BTC as a superior long-term store of value and “digital gold,” predicting that, once traditional hard assets are overbought, capital will rotate into bitcoin, allowing it to “catch up” to gold.
Top Stories
