Litecoin founder Charlie Lee has responded to criticism by former hedge fund manager Michael Novogratz, who had said that Litecoin (LTC) was nothing more than a ‘glorified testnet’ for Bitcoin (BTC).

Novogratz had, at one point, equated the market capitalizations of gold and silver with Bitcoin and Litecoin. He went on to suggest that all cryptocurrency investors sell their Litecoin holdings and buy Bitcoin instead.

Michael Novogratz left his career as a hedge fund manager to launch Galaxy Digital, a financial services company dedicated to introducing institutional investors and Wall Street to the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

Litecoin And The Lightning Network

On April 4, 2019, Lee replied to Novogratz’s scathing attacks on Twitter.

Without directly addressing Novogratz, his first tweet ridiculed the suggestion that Litecoin did not have significant developments of its own. Lee also referenced a recent announcement by Boltz Exchange, which promises to offer instant and account-free cryptocurrency trading over the Lightning Network. He said that the platform would let users convert their Bitcoin to Litecoin, all without transaction fees.

Lee argued that the launch of Bitcoin’s Lightning Network would not render Litecoin useless but, instead, augment it.

Just Another Crypto Twitter Beef

The Crypto Twitter community surprisingly did not come out in overwhelming support of Lee’s defense. The majority of all replies to the tweet pointed out that Lee had sold all his Litecoin holdings during the rally of 2017, effectively putting him at a more favorable position than most current day investors.

Litecoin was announced on Bitcointalk the same way as Bitcoin and is the second oldest cryptocurrency in the list of top 20 tokens. However, some maintain that Litecoin is a direct copy of Bitcoin with a few minor modifications to the underlying source code.

Another criticism stems from Lee’s insistence that Litecoin is comparable to silver. In the past, silver was circulated as a currency only due to the lack of divisibility of gold. Bitcoin, however, can actually be divided into smaller units called satoshis — though transaction times and fees are generally longer and higher for the market leader.

Between Michael Novogratz and Charlie Lee, whom do you agree with? Let us know in the comments below!