In a revealing discussion, Litecoin creator Charlie Lee outlined his ultimate vision for the cryptocurrency's success: a future where it operates autonomously without his leadership. This forward-looking perspective has profound implications for the Litecoin Foundation and the broader community.
In an exclusive interview with CryptoSlate, Charlie Lee shared the origin story behind Litecoin.
“Initially, what started as a hobby project,” he said about the coin's launch. At the time, Lee was employed at Google as a software engineer.
Lee positioned Litecoin as the silver to Bitcoin’s gold. With faster block times and lower fees facilitating inexpensive transactions, it complemented Bitcoin as a method for making affordable, rapid payments. He doesn’t see this changing anytime soon, either:
“I positioned it to be silver to Bitcoin’s gold when I first launched it. I believe there’s always going to be a space for Litecoin to exist, so I’m not worried about all these other coins coming into the space. There are always going to be tons and tons of coins. But I think Litecoin and Bitcoin will be very widely used as sound money,” Lee said confidently.
Created in October 2011, Litecoin predates the vast majority of blockchain projects. Soon after its launch, it rapidly grew into one of the top cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. It maintained this status year after year, cementing its place as a top-tier coin with a multi-billion dollar market cap.
Meanwhile, as Litecoin became a pillar in the cryptocurrency space, Lee's relationship with the project also evolved. “Today I feel responsible to help advance Litecoin and also try to support Bitcoin,” Lee shared.
Founded in April 2017, the Litecoin Foundation aims to advance the development and adoption of LTC. The Singapore-based non-profit was created to “support Litecoin in every way we can think of,” said Lee.
Unlike other crypto foundations such as the NEO Foundation or the TRON Foundation—which funded themselves by retaining coins from their respective ICOs—the Litecoin Foundation turned to the community to raise funds through donations and merchandise sales.
The Foundation gauges its success by the adoption it stimulates. Network hash rate, on-chain metrics, transaction volume, wallet accounts, and software downloads are all figures the Foundation monitors closely.
Currently, aiding Litecoin adoption and running the Foundation are Lee's full-time commitments.
In December 2017, near Litecoin's all-time high, Charlie Lee sold all of his personal LTC holdings, citing potential conflicts of interest given his influence over the coin's trajectory. The decision remains a recurring point of criticism among some investors.
Critics argue that Lee is no longer financially motivated to hold Litecoin. And based on his comments, he's not. Charlie Lee seems ideologically driven.
To date, Charlie Lee's statements and actions have proven he is still deeply invested in the project. In fact, Lee even left his position at Coinbase as Director of Engineering to work full-time on Litecoin.
Lee's actions back his focus. Charlie Lee's donations account for a significant portion of the Foundation's funding, according to an interview with CoinDesk. Based on past financial statements from the non-profit, this amounts to a substantial sum.
Instead of accumulating wealth, Lee seems more interested in fighting for the freedom of money.
Despite Charlie Lee's influence and knowledge over Litecoin, his goal is for the community to eventually take his place.
“What I’d like to see with Litecoin is that eventually it wouldn’t need me, so in the end, it’s a truly decentralized network. Having a centralized leader is counterproductive. Because then, I become a central point of failure.”
That isn’t to say the project depends on Lee. Similar to other politically decentralized cryptocurrency projects like Ethereum and Bitcoin, Litecoin would “exist just fine” if the Litecoin Foundation disappeared, he said. Nonetheless, his position is still a potential point of failure, he argues:
“If I get co-opted, or if I get attacked by bad actors, for example, who say I have to put KYC into Litecoin or they’re going to lock me up, that’s just terrible. There’s no good end result if that happens.”
Instead, Lee wants the community to grow to the point where Litecoin can thrive without him—in a way that is decentralized and resilient to coercion.
“I think over time I would need to step away. Start doing less, letting the community take over. And we have a great community for Litecoin. So I’m not really afraid about that at all.”
That isn’t to say Charlie Lee is stepping down anytime soon. “In the meantime, I think I do more good helping Litecoin along than causing harm.”
In a gesture reminiscent of Cincinnatus, Lee wants to eventually step away from power. And when that happens, people can rest assured that Litecoin will have succeeded in its mission to offer the world a “sound form of money.”
