The creator of Litecoin, Charlie Lee, continues to information us via reminiscence lane. For half one, he took us via Litecoin’s truthful launch. Considering the small variety of initiatives which have managed to try this, it was a fairly large achievement. Today, for half two, we’re going to cowl the challenge’s relation with cryptocurrency exchanges. Charlie Lee wears his coronary heart on his sleeve for this one, and tells a heartfelt story that leads to betrayal. Can you’re feeling the thrill within the air?
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This a part of the story is all about relationships, connections, and the lengthy highway to credibility. It’s additionally about Charlie Lee’s resistance and willpower.
Before we get into the meat and potatoes of the story, although, a light-weight element that shouldn’t go unnoticed.
Charlie Lee Gives Flowers To The Litecoin Logo Creators
There’s not a lot story to the logos, but it surely’s cool that Lee provides credit score the place credit score is due. The first and the second present evolution:
The second emblem was designed by @mjbmetals. I nonetheless like that quite a bit. It appears to be like nicely subsequent to that Bitcoin emblem.https://t.co/T5hzEldonI pic.twitter.com/Uy5qpl8JUP
— Charlie Lee (@SatoshiLite) October 7, 2021
And the ultimate one is a simplification of the second:
And the present emblem is designed by Robbie Coleman (@robertfcoleman) and his workforce.
Of course being decentralized, there are many different logos that folks have created and used. Some are fairly wacky. And folks can use no matter emblem they need and I can not do something about it. 😂 pic.twitter.com/M7FgBcGPum
— Charlie Lee (@SatoshiLite) October 7, 2021
That being mentioned, let’s get again to the story.
LTC worth chart for 10/09/2021 on Coinbase | Source: LTC/USD on TradingView.com
Litecoin’s Long Hard Road To Exchange Listings
This contradicts the title, however, in 2011 Litecoin was instantly listed within the now-defunct BTC-e. The website was a fairly profitable cryptocurrency change that fell into shame when the US Justice Department accused them of laundering funds from the Mt. Gox hack, however that’s one other story. Regarding Litecoin, Charlie Lee tells us that the itemizing, “helped a lot as miners had access to liquidity pretty quickly. Litecoin quickly become one of the most popular coin on BTC-e.”
From 2011 to 2013, I spent plenty of time supporting Litecoin’s early progress and pushed for adoption wherever I can. I just about talked to all of the exchanges to help LTC. I noticed that liquidity is tremendous necessary for a coin. Without liquidity, you’ll be able to’t do something.
— Charlie Lee (@SatoshiLite) October 7, 2021
However, although Lee “pretty much talked to all the exchanges to support LTC,” it was two years later that the second listed Litecoin. Bitfinex took an opportunity on the nascent challenge, “This was a huge deal for Litecoin. It’s the first major exchange to support LTC.”
At the Bitcoin 2013 convention, I keep in mind attending a chat by Bitstamp Co-Founder and CEO Nejc Kodrič( @nejc_kodric). During the Q&A after the discuss, I requested him if Bitstamp will add Litecoin. I believe he simply chuckled and went to the following query.
— Charlie Lee (@SatoshiLite) October 7, 2021
Then, Charlie Lee keep in mind how he tried to get the CEO of Bitstamp to listing them and he ignored him. Only to listing the coin in 2017. The identical factor occurred with BitPay. That firm ended up supporting Litecoin solely this yr.
The Chinese exchanges, although, listed Litecoin from the start. “Sometime late 2012 to early 2013, 2 of the largest exchanges in China, Okcoin and Huobi, added support for LTC. That was huge.” A query arises, did Charlie Lee have to throw shade at these two exchanges this tough? (*10*)
In 2013, I assumed it was time for me to step away from Litecoin. I used to be very lucky to discover Warren Togami (@wtogami), Founder of the Fedora Project, to take over as Litecoin lead developer. Warren is superb and we have been very fortunate to have him on the helm of growth.
— Charlie Lee (@SatoshiLite) October 7, 2021
Charlie Lee And Coinbase, A Love Story
So, in 2013 Charlie Lee steps down as Litecoin’s lead developer and leaves the job to Warren Togami. At the identical time, he leaves a high-paying job at Google as a result of they weren’t all in favour of something crypto-related. That’s when Coinbase will get into the image. Lee contacts them to see if they’re all in favour of itemizing Litecoin and they find yourself hiring him as an alternative.
I interviewed at Coinbase and on paper, it gave the impression of a horrible deal. I might have to commute to SF, which was an hour every manner, take a 50% or so pay lower, work twice as exhausting, and miss out on all of the Google perks. But it was a no brainer for me.
— Charlie Lee (@SatoshiLite) October 8, 2021
According to Charlie Lee, “Coinbase was the hot startup and THE crypto company that is making Bitcoin easy to use. I knew that if Bitcoin didn’t succeed, Litecoin wasn’t going anywhere either.” A chilly exhausting reality that the entire Altcoins have to dwell with to today. Besides that, Lee needed to ultimately persuade Coinbase to help Litecoin. How might he not?
But at the least he created a cool banner for it. 😁https://t.co/7BToh7YNdX
After that, there have been rumors of @MtGox lastly including its second coin, Litecoin. At the time MtGox had like 97% of the full Bitcoin buying and selling quantity. Support of LTC can be large for Litecoin’s liquidity. pic.twitter.com/rfBhA7z1Pm
— Charlie Lee (@SatoshiLite) October 8, 2021
The Chinese connection paid off and the BTC China, lead by Charlie Lee’s brother, listed the coin. “Although it was a huge news, what took him so long?!,” asks Lee hilariously. Also discover that the banner that he mentions performs on the truth that Charlie and Bobby are brothers.
In 2015, there have been rumors that the notorious Mt. Gox change was going to listing Litecoin. At the time, this was THE place to be. Charlie Lee lastly confirms the story, “The rumors were actually true. I was talking to the CEO, Mark Karpelès almost on a daily basis in mid 2015.” However, the Mt. Gox hack was uncovered earlier than they materialized these plans. And all hell broke unfastened. “In hindsight, it was a blessing in disguise.”
Then, because it occurs, issues turned bitter within the Charlie Lee and Coinbase romance.
That modified although in 2016. The was when Litecoin commerce quantity exploded on Chinese exchanges and it was clear to me that Coinbase was leaving some huge cash on the desk by not supporting altcoins. And it made enterprise sense for Coinbase to add altcoins.
— Charlie Lee (@SatoshiLite) October 8, 2021
The Brian Armstrong tweet he refers to says: “Ripple, Stellar, and Altcoins are all a distraction. Bitcoin is way too far ahead. We should be focused on bitcoin and sidechains.” Wow. What would the Brian Armstrong of the current say about that assertion?
Anyway, in 2016 Litecoin’s buying and selling quantity was exploding within the Chinese exchanges and Charlie Lee noticed his alternative. “This was also when Ethereum was starting to get big. So I put together a proposal to Brian and Fred Ehrsam to add both LTC and ETH to Coinbase.” The proposal’s thesis was that, since folks within the US had no straightforward manner to purchase, retailer, and commerce these cash, there was “a lot of unsatisfied demand.” And Coinbase might make some huge cash.
There was plenty of unhappy demand. People within the US had no straightforward manner to retailer and commerce these cash. And Coinbase would steal a lion share of the demand if we added the two cash to begin.
Both Brian and Fred like the thought however they crossed out LTC. They simply need to do ETH.
— Charlie Lee (@SatoshiLite) October 8, 2021
Here it is: betrayal. The two Coinbase executives broke Charlie Lee’s coronary heart by accepting the proposal, however just for Ethereum. “Although I went along with the plan, it kind of rubbed me the wrong way. Litecoin had a much higher global trade volume at the time and was the #2 coin in marketcap.” A short time later, Lee took three months of Coinbase to deal with his challenge.
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In the following episode, Litecoin’s story intertwines with Bitcoin’s and the controversial Segwit implementation. We’re going to uncover that Charlie Lee and his workforce have been instrumental on this. How? Tune in to discover out.
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