Litecoin finds little solace in the news that crypto-to-USD lender BlockFi; LTC/USD down 2%

• LTC/USD retraces from Asian highs.
• BlockFi announced support for Litecoin and Gemini’s stable coin.

Litecoin, the 7th largest digital asset, is changing hands at $53.50 handle, losing about 2% in recent 24 hours. The coin the biggest loser out of top-10 coins in terms of daily movements. Litecoin’s market value is registered at $3.1B and an average daily trading volume $290M.    

What’s going on

A crypto-to-USD lender BlockFi announced support for Litecoin and Gemini stable coin GUSD, expanding its offering beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum. Now, the platform customers can use these coins as a collateral to obtain loans in USD.

The company considers this development as the first step towards the wider support of most top-10 coins,    BlockFi’s CEO Zac Prince said in the interview with Bitcoin Magazine.

“Litecoin was recently added to Gemini and has a long history of price appreciation. Having large, embedded capital gains is one of the motivating factors for considering a loan backed by crypto. Litecoin also has strong liquidity with USD pairs in multiple trading venues,” he added.

BlockFi plans to expand its lending products by providing support for other major cryptocurrencies and creating reliable and timely liquidity in global markets.

“This announcement is a big step towards BlockFi’s global expansion, which has been a part of our vision since the company’s founding. It’s easy to forget that people in many parts of the world do not have access to low-cost credit. We look forward to providing that stability to residents of countries with less-stable currencies,” Flori Marquez, BlockFi co-founder and VP of operations, said in the press release.

Litecoin’s technical picture

LTC/USD is capped by SMA50 (4hour) at $54.50. This technical level stopped Litecoin’s recovery on Tuesday. The signal from Relative Strength Index (RSI) worked well, but now indicator stays close to the oversold territory, which means that further downside is limited.

On the upside, once above $54.40, the coin may proceed towards $55.48 (sloping trendline) and then to $60.00

LTC/USD, 4-hour chart