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Charlie Lee Expressed: As we are approaching the 10th anniversary of Litecoin, I figured it’s a good time to do a long Twitter on the history of Litecoin from my perspective. My memory of events can be hazy at times, so for those mentioned, feel free to add or correct anything I say.
From 2011 to 2013, I spent a lot of time supporting Litecoin’s early growth and pushed for adoption wherever I can. I pretty much talked to all the exchanges to support LTC. I realized that liquidity is super important for a coin. Without liquidity, you can’t do anything.
Merchants and merchant processors can’t accept a coin if there’s no liquidity. Because they have to cash out to fiat when they accept the cryptocurrency, lack of liquidity makes it hard to sell the coin without moving the price too much.
In May of 2013, Bitfinex launched support for Litecoin. This was a huge deal for Litecoin. It’s the first major exchange to support LTC.
Finance Magnates in the past published, “Leveraged bitcoin trading platform, Bitfinex has announced that they have added litecoin trading on their system. Account holders have access to both LTC/USD and LTC/BTC trading. In its initial launch, only unleveraged long positions will be available. This contrast with bitcoin trading which is available to short and with leverage.”
At the Bitcoin 2013 conference, I remember attending a talk by Bitstamp Co-Founder and CEO Nejc Kodrič. During the Q&A after the talk, I asked him if Bitstamp will add Litecoin. I think he just chuckled and went to the next question.
I remember thinking to myself that one day they will add Litecoin. And it will be because it was the right business decision for them to add LTC. And that did happen but 4 years later in June of 2017.
On June 19, 2017 Bitstamp Published: “Dear Bitstamp Ltd customers, So, we have some good news! First up, we’d like to welcome another digital currency to our line-up. Yes, that’s right. Today we are happy to be launching Litecoin (LTC) trading, which will be paired with BTC, EUR and USD! But that’s not all. We are also exploring the benefits of the Lightning Network and, in order to provide our customers with the highest level of security possible, we have implemented multisig Litecoin wallets.”
Sometime late 2012 to early 2013, two of the largest exchanges in China, OkCoin and Huobi Global, added support for LTC. That was huge. The trading volume was also pretty crazy, but unclear how much of that was fabricated. Litecoin was a very popular coin in China.
