Charlie Lee, founder of Litecoin (LTC) and former director of engineering at Coinbase, recently took bold steps in The Crypto World

In December, Lee announced in a Reddit post that he had sold and donated all of his LTCs, citing a conflict of interest. ;interests. In January, Lee tweeted a proposal for a Litecoin soft fork that would develop a new kind of tariff market for the altcoin.

Lee was a keynote speaker at the Blockchain Connect conference in San Francisco on Jan. 26, where Cointelegraph had the opportunity to talk to him backstage about the Coincheck exchange, the latest news, and more. adoption of cryptocurrency and the importance of keeping the prospect in a market as volatile as crypto.

CHARLIE : Funny, I was just reading an article by Cointelegraph [on the Coincheck exchange hack] . Is it happening right now?

CT: Yes, it happened this morning [Jan. 26]. So what are your first thoughts on the Coincheck hack?

CHARLIE : My first thought is that it's unfortunate that the exchange was hacked. I mean, it's not unexpected. But I think it's just the nature of the game.

Freedom of money means you have total control over your money, and if you give control to an exchange, so they have control over the money and they can easily lose it.

This will probably not be the last time we hear about a hacked exchange. But it is certainly one of the biggest hacks I remember in terms of percentage of coins. NEM is $ 8 billion [NEM market cap].

<img alt=" NEM Cards "src =" http://cointelegraph.com/storage/uploads/view/4186d478520ff6df706e57ebcec84aa0.png "title =" NEM Cards "/>

So, c & Is 6-7% [*5.8 percent] of all the pieces that were hacked and if it was a Proof-of-stake piece, it becomes very vulnerable to an attack if the hacker wants to use that piece for attacking the network [*NEM is Proof of Importance]

So we saw blockchains like VeriCoin reverse the blockchain, or even Ethereum did it with the DAO hack, where they went back and they took it back. money and Is this the first thing I thought, will they make a big effort to recover the money?

CT : We were just talking about whether or not NEM would make a hard fork.

CHARLIE : Yes, and for bitcoin and litecoin, that's some something that I would never encourage. omote, making a fork hard to recover the money.

The base layer must be resistant to censorship. Developers or companies can not unilaterally decide to cancel transactions. Once you draw the line to do that, where do you stop?

So, I'm just guessing; I'm not sure what they're thinking right now. But it's unfortunate for the exchange and people who have had coins on the exchange.

[On Jan. 27, Coincheck announced that it would refund all users affected by the hack. The NEM team is opposed to conducting a hard fork and has since reported that the hackers are now moving some of the stolen coins to different addresses]

CT: So your position is: "It's unfortunate, but if you put your money in the hands of someone else, it's a good thing. one another, as in a third, then that is the risk you take "?

CHARLIE: Yes, that is By nature, you have control over your money: if you want to give control to other people, then there is certainly a risk involved.

And, in most cases, the Risk is worth it if you want to trade trading.And we hope we will see more decentralized exchanges this year.

CT: Do you think that the recent introduction of Cryptocurrency trading options in the application Robinhood shows that encryption is rising?

CHARLIE: I think that's the stuff es such as Robinhood and Square Cash adopting Bitcoin – allowing people to buy and sell Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies – is definitely a very good sign of gradual adoption. So I think it's fine, I'm very excited about it.

Especially the fact that Robinhood could potentially support Litecoin in the future. It is easy for an average person to enter the space, get an exhibit at the room, easily buy a small amount and use it.

This is something that Coinbase has been doing for many years, and also the reason I joined Coinbase to help make this possible – to help make Bitcoin and Litecoin and others Easy to use parts for the average person, for moms and dads.

CT: Why do you end up leaving Coinbase?

CHARLIE: I left to concentrate on Litecoin. I am currently working full time on the development of Litecoin

CT: But you sold all your interests in this game?

CHARLIE: I sold my pieces but I am still full-time on the development of Litecoin. I sold my pieces because of conflicts of interest and not because I did not believe in the project.

CT: Do you think that anyone who owns or works full time on a cryptocurrency should not have any interest in their own currency?

CHARLIE: No, not necessarily. I think I'm in a special position because I have a great presence on social media, and I have a huge influence on the future of Litecoin and the price movement of Litecoin, so I have always felt a bit of a conflict when I promote Litecoin on social media and see who is affecting the price. The fact that it helps me financially – so I wanted to take away the financial aspect of my job.

CT: In the very first panel this morning Kraken CEO, Jesse Powell, said " If you feel that your psychology is being manipulated by the chart you are looking at, then you should just exchange the fundamentals. You do not need to swap the card . "

Do you think that only one person on Twitter can really manipulate the market as much?"

CHARLIE: I think that's the only thing I've ever seen. is just the human nature that people are influenced by what they hear and see around them.

In the long run, I am very optimistic for Litecoin and Bitcoin, but for fluctuations in the short term, it can move drastically in both directions and is difficult to predict.

CT: Do you have any predictions for next year for Bitcoin or Litecoin

CHARLIE: It's impossible to predict, that's why I'm not making any predictions.Last year before the rise, when Litecoin was at $ 4, I thought that if Litecoin reached $ 30, it would be a great year, I mean, it's inco yable, no? If it goes from $ 4 to $ 30, it's almost nine times more.

But he went to $ 300, ten times more than that [$30].

<img alt=" Litecoin Charts "src =" http://cointelegraph.com/storage/ uploads / view / 305095c9ec6f585babc73ee9dbb89b21.png "title =" Graphics of Litecoin "/>

But then it also surprises me down … even Bitcoin went up to $ 1,200 in the last peak [in 2013] but "

that's also why I made a tweet at the end from last year saying that if you can not handle Litecoin go to $ 20 from the top, then do not invest in it

Ok, sorry to spoil the party, but j & rsquo; Need to reign in the excitement a bit … Buying LTC is extremely risky I expect we will have a multi-year bear market like the one we just have where the LTCs have dropped by 90% in value ($ 48 to $ 4) So if you can not drop the LTC to $ 20, do not buy it! – Charlie Lee [1 9459038] (@SatoshiLite) December 11, 2017

Many people who lose money are those who arrive at the top or somewhere in the middle. Then the price drops a lot and then they have to sell it because it is too much money to lose. So, they sell at the lowest and then they do not catch upward.

People misread that and thought I was telling them to sell because [Litecoin] was going to fall by 90%. I mean, it could. But I'm just raising the possibility that it's too volatile and you should not bet more than you're likely to lose. Long term is good, short term – no one knows.

CT: Thank you very much! We really appreciate that. Very pleased to meet you.

[1945908] This interview was conducted in collaboration with Olivia Capozzalo, editor-in-chief of Cointelegraph

* Note of the editorial team of Cointelegraph