Litecoin creator Charlie Lee has some unfinished business with his brainchild.
Litecoin: Pay with It!
In a recent podcast interview, the cryptocurrency entrepreneur says that Litecoin, he hopes, will be used primarily for payments in the future. To be fair, this is a dream that many cryptocurrency creators hold. Several currencies, bitcoin being the main one, were designed to give people without reasonable access to credit a chance to purchase goods and services without worrying about interference from a central actor or bank.
However, the volatile natures and consistent price swings exhibited amongst cryptocurrencies has led many to believe that they cannot be used for payments. Say, for example, you use crypto to purchase $60 worth of merchandise. Tomorrow, the crypto you used falls in price. While you suffer little from the experience, the business has lost out on some serious profit.
Still, Lee insists that Litecoin will potentially be a payment mechanism in the coming years. He comments:
The general idea is just to have more and more places that you can spend bitcoin and Litecoin. For it to be truly successful, you have to be able to spend it anywhere.
Lee originally purchased bitcoin when it was only $30 per unit. From there, he began to see firsthand the benefits of digital assets, and decided it was time to start mining new bitcoins, though he later got the idea of a bitcoin competitor that would turn out to be Litecoin.
He states:
One of the things I saw [Litecoin] being was silver to bitcoin’s gold. I’d seen throughout history people using more than one currency in the case of gold and silver. I saw Litecoin being a cheaper version of bitcoin where fees would be less, and people could potentially use it for more things.
Lee ultimately faced criticism last year when he sold his entire Litecoin stash as the currency was trading at its all-time high of over $400. When asked about making money while everyone else was left “holding the bag,” he claims he didn’t have enough currency to crash the market or do any lasting damage.
Don’t Stand Aside Because I’m Not Involved
He also took aim at critics who cite Litecoin as useless given that he doesn’t have any “skin in the game.” In other words, he’s the creator of Litecoin, yet holds no units himself. He explains:
If you’re not holding onto Litecoin because I don’t have any, then your reason for holding and using Litecoin is just silly to begin with.
While Lee admits that Litecoin’s ongoing volatility is a serious problem, he doesn’t think stable coins are the answer like so many experts claim. He believes stable currencies have “central points of failure” and are not “censorship-resistant,” like decentralized currencies such as Litecoin or bitcoin.
