Daily transactions on the Litecoin (LTC-USD) network have exploded, reaching $9.6 billion per day, a massive 243% jump in just five months, according to Santiment. The surge coincides with growing excitement around a potential Litecoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), which has investors piling into the asset.

Santiment reported on Feb. 21 that Litecoin's market capitalization spiked 46% between Feb. 2 and Feb. 19. "There is clear growing excitement around a potential Litecoin ETF, 13 months after Bitcoin's first ETFs were approved by the SEC," the firm stated.

The push for a Litecoin ETF took a step forward after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) acknowledged a rule change to list CoinShares' spot Litecoin ETF on the Nasdaq. Meanwhile, on Feb. 20, Canary Capital's Litecoin ETF appeared on the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC) system under the ticker LTCC, a key preparatory step for launch, according to the Litecoin Foundation.

Litecoin responded quickly to the ETF hype, jumping 8.5% after the DTCC listing. The asset has now gained nearly 30% in the past two weeks, outperforming Bitcoin, which has remained range-bound.

Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas noted that while this listing doesn't mean approval is guaranteed, the odds remain high at 90%.