Litecoin (LTC) creator Charlie Lee took to Twitter to advise his followers to purchase Bitcoin before any other cryptocurrencies, even the one he created himself. Most controversially, Lee seemed to refer to all other cryptocurrencies besides Bitcoin, including Litecoin, as “shitcoins”.
“There will be at most 21 million bitcoins in existence. There isn’t even enough BTC to go around for EVERY millionaire to own one. So before you buy any other coin (LTC included), try to own at least 1 BTC first,”
“Once you have 1 BTC, buy all the shitcoins you want!”
Litecoin, which Lee created in 2011 as a fork of Bitcoin, has always marketed itself as a payments network, the so-called “silver to bitcoin’s gold,” rather than a direct competitor to the flagship cryptocurrency.
Some Bitcoin maximalists have even acknowledged the value of Litecoin as a testbed for Bitcoin development, perhaps best evidenced by the former’s adoption of scaling solution Segregated Witness (SegWit) well in advance of its activation on the Bitcoin network.
Lee claims to have sold his Litecoin in an effort to eliminate any “conflicts of interest” he might have as an influencer in the cryptocurrency industry. The former Google developer was particularly concerned about the effect his tweets might have on the cryptocurrency market.
Many in the crypto community, however, were skeptical that Lee was simply trying to make an exit while cryptocurrency prices were at an all-time high. He said,
“[W]henever I tweet about Litecoin price or even just good or bads news, I get accused of doing it for personal benefit. So in a sense, it is conflict of interest for me to hold LTC and tweet about it because I have so much influence.”
Lee has remained an active developer and promoter for the Litecoin platform, even after selling all of his holdings. This newest tweet, however, has given fresh ammunition to Lee’s many critics.
It’s not a surprise to hear Charlie Lee be bullish on the outlook of Bitcoin–he has been an industry supporter for many years which includes backing BTC–but it is surprising his investment advice neglects promoting his own currency at the expense of Bitcoin.
However, this also reveals why much of the industry of crypto has found Charlie to be such an endearing figure: he has regularly put what is best for the industry ahead of his own promotion.
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