On the September 30th episode of the podcast CoinDesk Spotlight, Litecoin creator Charlie Lee reflected on his journey into cryptocurrencies. He explained why he sold all of his Litecoin holdings in 2017 (without adding anything new to his previous statements) and emphasized his deep belief in Bitcoin. He admitted that creating Litecoin involved “a lot of headache” and didn’t bring in much money. But did he say he regrets making it?
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Charlie Lee said he didn’t make much money with Litecoin. He said he would have advised his younger self to buy Bitcoin, stay away from it, never sell it, do nothing related to cryptocurrencies and remain anonymous. Some people recalled how Lee sold his LTC holdings in 2017 and saw his message as another sign that Lee was not interested in Litecoin.
Did Lee say he regrets creating Litecoin?
In a recent episode of the CoinDesk Spotlight podcast, Lee reflected on his gold, crypto journey, his days at Google, and of course his interest in Litecoin and Bitcoin, the latter of which seems to be Lee’s bigger passion.
At the end of the episode, host Jennifer Sanasy asked Lee what advice she would give her younger self. Lee’s reply was:
“Buy Bitcoin, store it, don’t sell anything, don’t do anything else related to cryptocurrencies, just sit and be anonymous. That would be my advice (…) Creating Litecoin didn’t actually make you any money. It was a huge headache (…) If you just buy Bitcoin, store it, stay anonymous, sit there and don’t sell anything, you’ll be better off.”
Several crypto-focused media outlets shared clips of Lee’s response, claiming he regrets creating Litecoin. Some of the posts were quite misleading. For example, the ChainDesk Telegram channel quoted Lee as saying:
“Litecoin’s Charlie Lee says he regrets creating Litecoin and wishes he had bought Bitcoin.”
This post has received over 13,000 views. However, it differs markedly from what Charlie Lee actually said on the podcast. Lee admits that creating Litecoin has made his life difficult, but he has never distanced himself from his brainchild and continues to dedicate most of his time to Litecoin.
In the same podcast episode, he said that as a board member of the Litecoin Foundation, he participates in weekly board meetings aimed at promoting Litecoin adoption.
Litecoin was founded in 2011 as a fork of Bitcoin to speed up small-value transactions, and it remains one of the top 30 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. In August, publicly traded medical company MEI Pharma announced a Litecoin pivot. Obtained 110.4 million in LTC. Luxxfolio is another example of a company that sees Litecoin as a strategic asset.
On October 7th, the Litecoin
What does Lee actually regret?
However, in response to the very same question regarding advice he would give to his younger self, Lee highlighted other aspects of his life that he probably regrets more, such as launching Litecoin. It’s Lee’s lack of anonymity. He reflected on this in detail, admitting that he envied Satoshi Nakamoto’s anonymity. He said he wishes Satoshi was still alive and described his ability to remain anonymous as “kind of powerful.”
Explaining to Sanasy why anonymity is so important to Lee and why he feels unfortunate for not applying it to his life, Lee points out security concerns.
“That’s important because these days we hear a lot of stories like kidnappings and things like people getting the $5 wrench attack right. That’s always on my mind.”
Why are some crypto fans angry with Lee?
Although Charlie Lee is a well-known figure in the cryptocurrency community, his actions and views have not necessarily benefited LTC bag owners. In 2017, he made headlines by selling most of his Litecoin holdings.
Lee was clear about this decision. He considered his LTC holdings a conflict of interest and sold them to protect himself from price fluctuations while working on projects and announcing news. He said in a Reddit post:
“Over the past year, I have been trying to avoid price-related tweets, but it’s difficult because price is such an important aspect to Litecoin’s growth. And every time I tweet about Litecoin’s price or just good or bad news, I Some people even think I’m shorting LTC! So in a way, it’s a conflict of interest for me to own LTC and tweet about it.”
Many disliked this move, thinking that either Mr. Lee doesn’t care about Litecoin all that much, or that Mr. Lee doesn’t actually value Litecoin more than fiat currency. One comment on Lee’s Reddit post reads:
“If you don’t believe in what you’re doing enough to retain some of your personal wealth, I have a hard time believing in it either.”
Eight years later, some people still consider Lee a liar and a hypocrite, despite all his efforts to keep Litecoin alive.
Like Lee, he has a fairly unique voice in the crypto industry, saying things about his projects that other founders and CEOs wouldn’t think of. Some liken him to Mr. Musk, but unlike Mr. Musk, who is focused on increasing Tesla’s stock price, Mr. Lee says that Mr. Lee is focused on Litecoin adoption. The fact that his words did not sink Litecoin is a testament to the strength of the Litecoin community and the efforts of the Litecoin Foundation.
