The creator of Litecoin, Charlie Lee, is prepared to have a good time the challenge’s tenth anniversary. And, what higher method to do it than by giving the general public the oral historical past of Litecoin? Of course, that’s a determine of speech. Since it’s 2021, he gave us that “oral history” by way of a Twitter thread. And what a thread it is. It takes us again to the very starting of the cryptocurrency area and, utilizing documentation and pictures, lets us in on the secrets and techniques, the internal jokes, and the wholesomeness of instances previous.
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In this primary installment, Charlie Lee will cowl essentially the most essential a part of the story: Litecoin’s honest launch. Buckle up folks, it’s going to be a wild experience!
Charlie Lee On Altcoin’s Prehistory
Lots of tasks noticed the sunshine of day after Bitcoin and earlier than Litecoin. He names:
- Namecoin.
- Ixcoin
- Iocoin
- Solidcoin
- Tenebrix
And somberly declares, “Every one of these coins are now dead.” According to Charlie Lee, the rationale for their demise was a scarcity of equity. “Most of these altcoins have a huge premine. Tenebrix for example had 7 million coins premined. That means the creator has incentives to pump the coin to a high price so he/she can profit massively without much work.”
Most of those altcoins have an enormous premine. Tenebrix for instance had 7 million cash premined. That means the the creator has incentives to pump the coin to a excessive worth so he/she will revenue massively with out a lot work. You get issues like creators bribing exchanges for itemizing.
— Charlie Lee (@SatoshiLite) October 7, 2021
Then, Charlie Lee offers us the definition of “Ninja mining.” “If a coin was not premined, you get things like ninja mining. That’s when a coin is released silently to friends and family.” And tells us that a few of these tasks launched with out releasing the supply code to the general public. The kicker, in fact, is that Litecoin was a response to all of that nonsense. Fairness was essential, and it’s the principle cause that the challenge nonetheless exists at present.
LTC worth chart for 10/08/2021 on Kraken | Source: LTC/USD on TradingView.com
Litecoin’s Prehistory
After Charlie Lee settled on the title Litecoin, his first motion was to purchase all of the associated domains. (*10*) Shots fired! Friendly pictures, although, however pictures nonetheless.
The better part was that each one the domains had been accessible. So on 10/4/11, I purchased all of them on GoDaddy. What a terrific transfer in hindsight. So now, we do not have one thing like https://t.co/TFymqt9pKY selling Litecoin Cash as a substitute of Litecoin. $38.85 nicely spent! 😂 pic.twitter.com/ur0ckkHMsh
— Charlie Lee (@SatoshiLite) October 7, 2021
An fascinating incontrovertible fact that Lee offers us is that, although coding the coin was straightforward, the toughest factor to create was the genesis block. “The hardest part was actually to create the genesis block. Satoshi never documented how he did it and the code to do that was not checked in with the Bitcoin source code.” So, he did “some reverse engineering” and created this block right here. And then, Charlie Lee offers us one other wonderful factoid. “What a lot of people didn’t know is that I put the headline of Steve Job’s death in the genesis hash. This proves that the genesis block was created after 10/5/11.”
So I had to do some reverse engineering and managed to create the genesis block on 10/7/11https://t.co/lArbbucLGU
What lots of people did not know is that I put the headline of Steve Job’s demise within the genesis hash. This proves that the genesis block was created after 10/5/11. pic.twitter.com/Zn7tnRBgUM
— Charlie Lee (@SatoshiLite) October 7, 2021
Litecoin’s launch thread in the legendary Bitcointalk boards is an archeological artifact from forgotten instances. The story begins with:
“Litecoin is the result of some of us who joined together on IRC in an effort to create a real alternative currency similar to Bitcoin. We wanted to make a coin that is silver to Bitcoin’s gold. Various alternative currencies have come and gone. Some brought innovation, but they all had problems.”
A hilarious story is {that a} younger Vitalik Buterin hated the Litecoin title and mentioned so within the launch thread:
I forgot to point out that I selected Litecoin as a result of Litecoin is the lighter model of Bitcoin. It’s sooner, cheaper, and simpler to use.
And we obtained to see a younger & unknown (on the time) @VitalikButerin hating on the title. I want Litecoin over Etherium. Wait, is it Ethereum? 😂 pic.twitter.com/kCLUUNbiel
— Charlie Lee (@SatoshiLite) October 7, 2021
Back to the Twitter thread, Charlie Lee tells us, “The code was available for anyone to download and compile. So they can check the code to make sure.” And later on, that “People were able to immediately mine on testnet to make sure everything works on their system. This is very important.” The desk was set for…
Litecoin’s Fair Launch
Since everybody that wished to was “prepared to mine at launch,” Litecoin had the coveted honest launch. “To accomplish this, I of course had to share the genesis block with everyone. But I can’t just do that because people can mine a long chain in private from that genesis block.” And then, Charlie Lee reveals how he hid it.
Without these 2 parameters, one can’t begin mining on the mainnet, however they can simply mine on testnet.
So I lied, there was a 2 block premine of 100 cash. 😂
The genesis cash can’t be spent.Then I did a ballot on what time we should always launch the coin:https://t.co/BWvGGFjNBN pic.twitter.com/AuXkqMB4QT
— Charlie Lee (@SatoshiLite) October 7, 2021
And he confesses, “So I lied, there was a 2 block premine of 100 coins. The genesis coins cannot be spent.” However, he had already informed this to the group in that Bitcointalk thread:
“Litecoin will include 150 premined cash: simply the genesis block and the primary 2 blocks to affirm the genesis is legitimate.“
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Then, Chalie Lee created a ballot to ask the group when to launch. The choice that he wished didn’t win. Since equity was what he aimed for, he ready every little thing for the day the small group picked. And then, he rickrolled them!
Over the following few days, I did every little thing to assist folks get their system arrange.
A couple of minutes earlier than the precise launch time, I posted this. Of course this was a hyperlink to Rick Astley’s video. I had to. 😁 pic.twitter.com/isJIRPhEDv
— Charlie Lee (@SatoshiLite) October 7, 2021
Then, he posted the lacking configuration parameters on the Bitcointalk thread and everyone was off to the races.
At launch, I posted the config paramters that had been wanted to mine on mainnet. All everybody had to do was paste that into their litecoin config file, restart their consumer, and they can be fortunately mining actual LTC.
Of course, there was a mad rush of individuals mining LTC at first. pic.twitter.com/ZyUcQ1UEe3
— Charlie Lee (@SatoshiLite) October 7, 2021
And, as they say, the remainder is historical past. To shut this chapter, Charlie Lee leaves modesty apart, “I think I managed to pull off the fairest launch of any coin. And that is one of the biggest reasons why Litecoin succeeded. Surprisingly, very very few coins copied Litecoin’s launch.”
I feel I managed to pull off the fairest launch of any coin. And that is one of many greatest the explanation why Litecoin succeeded. Surprisingly, very only a few cash copied Litecoin’s launch.
Ok, that is it for now. I’ll tweet extra later about what occurred between launch and now.
— Charlie Lee (@SatoshiLite) October 7, 2021
Tomorrow, be part of us and Charlie Lee to keep in mind what occurred between the launch and the current. The article is going to be as filled with easter eggs and wonderful tales as this one.
Featured Image: Screenshot from the Bitcointalk boards | Charts by TradingView
