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| Place of birth | Ivory Coast |
| Place of residence | San Francisco, U.S. |
| Category | Founders, Developers |
| Alma mater | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Known for | Creating the cryptocurrency Litecoin (LTC) and later selling all of his holdings |
Biography:
Charlie Lee is a computer scientist and the founder of the Litecoin digital currency, which some have previously characterized as the digital silver to Bitcoin’s digital gold. Lee holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Lee created Litecoin while working at Google. He also worked at cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase as Director of Engineering until the platform added support for Litecoin.
In 2017, Lee liquidated most of his holdings in Litecoin following criticism from the community that his public opinions could affect the price. Currently, Lee works at the Litecoin Foundation, which is dedicated to the development of the Litecoin network and the coin’s further adoption.
Charlie Lee's 2019:
In January, Lee declared that he would focus Litecoin development on making the currency more private and fungible through Confidential Transactions, citing that the main battleground in cryptocurrencies will be between these two properties. In June, the Litecoin Foundation announced a partnership with Bibox Exchange and blockchain firm Ternio to release a physical cryptocurrency debit card.
In July, Lee expressed concerns that Litecoin’s “halving” of its block rewards could be a “shock” to the mining community. In October, Lee refuted accusations that the Litecoin Foundation had declared bankruptcy, stating that the firm had two years of runway secured.
What Cointelegraph expects for 2020:
Since Lee launched Litecoin in 2011, the development roadmap largely mirrored that of Bitcoin in the following years. With Lee declaring that Litecoin development should focus on privacy and fungibility, we expect to see more developments on that front. In December, developers behind the Grin cryptocurrency and the privacy-centric MimbleWimble protocol announced plans to integrate the technology into Litecoin.