Litecoin (CRYPTO: LTC) surged as one of the market's biggest gainers Thursday after the Nasdaq stock exchange submitted a request to the SEC to list a spot exchange-traded fund tracking the coin's price.

That calculation is based on the roughly 6% of bitcoin’s total supply now locked up in a variety of ETFs. Similar performance by a LTC product would yield more than $500 million of inflows for the token, which has a similar Proof of Work consensus mechanism to that of BTC.

Senior Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas predicts that Litecoin is the most likely cryptocurrency to receive a U.S. ETF approval next, following recent updates to its S-1 filing with the SEC.

As Litecoin decouples from altcoins with a 16.1% market cap surge, whale accumulation and ETF developments signal potential institutional interest in the veteran cryptocurrency.

Litecoin (LTC) surprises the crypto world with a 16% jump in 24 hours. Learn what's driving this sudden surge, including whale activity and bullish technical indicators.

Litecoin price held steady and crossed the important resistance level at $117.30, its highest swing on January 6. It has soared to its highest swing since December 18, and about 140% from its lowest level in 2024.