‘Conflict of Interest’: Litecoin Creator Charlie Lee Sells His Entire LTC Balance
Litecoin creator Charlie Lee revealed on Wednesday that he had liquidated his entire LTC balance, although that does not mean he is abandoning development of the fifth-largest cryptocurrency.
Charlie Lee Sells Entire LTC Balance
Early Thursday morning, Lee announced on Reddit that he had sold his entire LTC balance and would donate the future proceeds of his small LTC mining operation to further the development of the cryptocurrency that he originally created in 2011 and now develops full-time.
He did this, he said, not because he no longer believed in litecoin or because he believed the price was in a bubble but rather because he exerted so much influence within the community and had the ability to move the markets through his public comments on Twitter and other public platforms.
“Over the past year, I try to stay away from price related tweets, but it’s hard because price is such an important aspect of Litecoin growth. And whenever I tweet about Litecoin price or even just good or bads news, I get accused of doing it for personal benefit,” he said. “So in a sense, it is conflict of interest for me to hold LTC and tweet about it because I have so much influence…And there will always be a doubt on whether any of my actions were to further my own personal wealth above the success of Litecoin and crypto-currency in general.”
Lee added that, since he no longer relied on his LTC holdings for financial security, he believed that selling his coins was the right thing to do and will allow him to focus on the success of the project without the perception that he has a direct financial incentive tied to its day-to-day movements.
“This is definitely a weird feeling, but also somehow refreshing. Don’t worry. I’m not quitting Litecoin. I will still spend all my time working on Litecoin. When Litecoin succeeds, I will still be rewarded in lots of different ways, just not directly via ownership of coins. I now believe this is the best way for me to continue to oversee Litecoin’s growth,” he said.
Mixed Response from LTC Community
However, Lee’s announcement received a mixed response, with some community members praising him for his “sacrifice” and others questioning whether his lack of “skin in the game” will actually make him less-invested in litecoin’s long-term success.
Mike Novogratz, the billionaire manager of $500 million crypto hedge fund Galaxy Investment Partners, questioned whether it was a good move, stating on Twitter that he would be worried if Ethereum co-founders Vitalik Buterin or Joseph Lubin liquidated their ether balances.
“I think it’s extremely bullish!” Lee replied.
Write to Josiah Wilmoth at josiah.wilmoth(at)CCN.com.
Featured image from YouTube/Crypto Channel .
