Litecoin founder Charlie Lee has just announced that the Litecoin Foundation and crypto payment platform TokenPay have entered into a strategic partnership. As a first step they will be buying a stake in the German bank WEG Bank AG, and then will start “to work on many exciting consumer-driven crypto solutions.”

I’m excited to announce that @LTCFoundation and @TokenPay have entered into a strategic partnership to buy a stake in a German bank, WEG Bank AG. We plan to work on many exciting consumer-driven crypto solutions. Stay tuned! 🚀 For more info: https://t.co/K58SpQKvEl pic.twitter.com/6agmsa7wkb — Charlie Lee [LTC⚡] (@SatoshiLite) 10 July 2018

TokenPay describe the partnership as creating a “leading force in creating and delivering to the market modern consumer-driven crypto FinTech solutions.” TokenPay recently acquired 9.9% of WEG bank (the maximum ownership allowed under German law without having regulatory approval) with the option of buying the remainder when approval is achieved.

As of today, this stake “was further transacted to the benefit of Litecoin Foundation” in exchange for a “broad and comprehensive marketing and technology service agreement” which should “benefit TokenPay and its related cryptocurrency and business operations.”

According to Lee, the partnership “is a huge win-win” for both parties. TokenPay will derive benefit from Litecoin’s “high-level blockchain mechanization capabilities,” while integrating with an established bank will “make it simple for anyone to buy and use Litecoin.”

Does Litecoin have Verge to thank?

TokenPay have an established relationship with Verge Currency (XVG), and it seems that Charlie Lee’s criticism of Verge’s PornHub deal was what originally got TokenPay and Litecoin talking. Derek Capo jumped to Verge’s defence on Twitter before mentioning the bank purchase deal and the option for cryptocurrency debit cards.

It’s going to be a long drawn out battle. What do you have in mind? — Charlie Lee [LTC⚡] (@SatoshiLite) April 17, 2018

The exchange ended with an instruction from Lee that Capo should DM (direct message) him.

Thanks. Let me know if there’s anything I or the Litecoin Foundation can do to help. Dm me. — Charlie Lee [LTC⚡] (@SatoshiLite) April 17, 2018

News that an agreement was in the works first came to light in June, during Verge Currency’s first official meetup in Amsterdam. Derek Capo, a special guest at the event, informed the crowd that a non-disclosure agreement had been signed with Litecoin, with a strategic arrangement to be announced later in the month.