Ep. 76: {Rebroadcast}: Sidechains, Stable Coins, and What’s Wrong with the ICO with Charlie Lee of Litecoin

‘There’s definitely some teams that are using [ICOs] and are able to fund their ideas better and more easily than the traditional VC way of doing things, but there’s just too many bad actors that just want a get rich quick scheme.’
Charlie Lee created Litecoin in 2011 while he was working as software engineer for Google. Litecoin is ‘the silver to Bitcoin’s gold,’ functioning as a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency that complements Bitcoin. In the long-term, Charlie sees Litecoin becoming a payment currency used at both physical and online stores, and he is currently working to promote widespread merchant adoption.
Charlie also spent four years with Coinbase, serving as the Director of Engineering for the digital currency platform. Today Charlie explains why he is not a fan of the ICO, discussing why it’s ripe for bad actors. We cover the future of cryptocurrency and the major debates in the ecosystem, including hard forks and Bitcoin Gold. Charlie shares his inspiration for dedicating his career to cryptocurrency as well as his ambitions for Litecoin. Listen in for Charlie’s insight around sidechains, stable coins, and the value of CryptoKitties.

Topics Covered

Chalie’s background
Encrypted chat startup in 1999
Created Litecoin while working for Google
Last four years at Coinbase

Charlie’s take on the rise of the ICO
Incentives not in line, receive money before product is built
Too many bad actors
Tack on token functionality as afterthought

The future of the cryptocurrency space
ICO regulations to reduce fraud

Charlie’s ambitions for Litecoin
Become payment currency (physical, online stores)
Widespread merchant adoption
Listed on exchanges

Chalie’s insight around stable coins
Crypto must be tied back to real world somehow
Governments will eventually release cryptocurrencies (i.e.: crypto-USD)

The deployment of sidechains
Litecoin is decentralized, secured by miners
Value of sidechain in smart contracts

Why Charlie is excited about Monero
Coin doing the right thing
100% private

Charlie’s take on the major debates in the ecosystem
Bitcoin Gold
Hard forks

What inspired Charlie to enter the crypto space
Bitcoin as better version of gold
Easy to transfer, store for nothing

How CryptoKitties create value
Limited supply of digital resource (scarcity)
Concern lies in scaling

Connect with Charlie

Litecoin https://litecoin.org/
Litecoin on Twitter https://twitter.com/litecoin
Charlie on Twitter https://twitter.com/SatoshiLite

Resources Mentioned

Coinbase https://www.coinbase.com/?locale=en-US
Aragon https://aragon.one/
Monero https://getmonero.org/

Connect with Boost VC

Boost VC Website https://www.boost.vc/
Boost VC on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/boostvc/
Boost VC on Twitter https://twitter.com/BoostVC