Biography:Charlie Lee (computer scientist)

From HandWiki
Short description: American computer scientist
Charlie Lee
Charlie Lee.png
Born
Ivory Coast
EducationBS and MS, computer science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2000
WebsiteCharlie Lee on Twitter

Charlie Lee is a computer scientist, best known as the creator of Litecoin. He serves as the managing director of the Litecoin Foundation.[1][2]

Early life

Lee was born in Ivory Coast, moved to the United States at the age of 13, and graduated from high school in 1995.[3] He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with bachelor's and master's degrees in computer science in 2000.[3]

Lee's brother, Bobby C. Lee, is the founder and CEO of cryptocurrency exchange BTC China.[4]

Career

For a decade in the 2000s, Lee worked for Google. His work for the company included writing code for ChromeOS.[5] In 2011, Lee became interested in Bitcoin.[6] In October 2011, he released Litecoin on Bitcointalk.[7] He had written the blockchain technology based on the Bitcoin in his spare time while employed at Google. He released Litecoin to the public after mining only 150 coins.[5] Lee has stated that he did not intend to compete with Bitcoin but meant Litecoin to be used for smaller transactions.[6]

In July 2013, Lee left Google and began working at Coinbase, before the cryptocurrency exchange adopted the coin he had created.[8] Lee held the position of Engineering Director until 2017.[9]

In December 2017, Lee announced on Reddit that he sold almost all of his Litecoin holdings due to a perceived conflict of interest.[10] He had been criticized for his tweets, which had a possible effect on the price of the coin.[11] Lee sold or donated all of his coins except for a few minted in physical form, which he kept as collectibles.[12][13]

Lee is currently working full-time with the Litecoin Foundation on fostering Litecoin adoption.[14]

References

  1. Williams-Grut, Oscar (April 28, 2018). "The founder of litecoin said selling his entire stake 'feels like it's not the right decision'". Business Insider. http://www.businessinsider.com/litecoin-founder-charlie-lee-on-decision-to-sell-entire-crypto-holding-2018-4. 
  2. "About Us" (in en-US). https://litecoin-foundation.org/about-us/. 
  3. 3.0 3.1 Reiff, Nathan (May 7, 2018). "Who Is Charlie Lee, Litecoin Founder?" (in en-US). Investopedia. https://www.investopedia.com/news/who-charlie-lee-litecoin-founder/. 
  4. Hill, Kashmir (2013-11-08). "From Walmart To Bitcoin: The CEO Behind The Chinese Exchange Sending BTC To New Highs". Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2013/11/08/from-walmart-to-bitcoin-the-ceo-behind-the-chinese-exchange-sending-bitcoin-to-new-highs/. Retrieved 2013-11-08. 
  5. 5.0 5.1 Robert, McMillan (August 30, 2013). "Ex-Googler Gives the World a Better Bitcoin" (in en-US). Wired. https://www.wired.com/2013/08/litecoin/. Retrieved May 9, 2018. 
  6. 6.0 6.1 Shen, Lucinda (December 12, 2017). "What Is Litecoin, and Why Is It Beating Bitcoin This Year?" (in en). Fortune. http://fortune.com/2017/12/12/litecoin-bitcoin-price-2018/. 
  7. Hill, Kashmir (January 13, 2014). "A $100 Worth Of Litecoin A Year Ago Is Worth $30,000 Today" (in en). Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2014/01/13/a-100-worth-of-litecoin-a-year-ago-is-worth-30000-today/. 
  8. Robert, McMillan (August 30, 2013). "Ex-Googler Gives the World a Better Bitcoin" (in en-US). Wired. https://www.wired.com/2013/08/litecoin/. Retrieved May 9, 2018. 
  9. McGleenon, Brian (24 November 2022). "Why is this crypto token rising amid crash and FTX collapse?". https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/crypto-token-crash-ftx-collapse-litecoin-doge-solana-144705733.html. 
  10. "Litecoin price, tweets, and conflict of interest". December 20, 2017. https://www.reddit.com/r/litecoin/comments/7kzw6q/litecoin_price_tweets_and_conflict_of_interest/. 
  11. Russell, Jon (December 20, 2017). "Litecoin founder Charlie Lee has sold all of his LTC – TechCrunch" (in en-US). https://techcrunch.com/2017/12/20/litecoin-charlie-lee-conflict-of-interest/. 
  12. Browne, Ryan (December 20, 2017). "Litecoin founder Charlie Lee says he's sold all his holdings in the cryptocurrency". CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/20/litecoin-founder-charlie-lee-sells-his-holdings-in-the-cryptocurrency.html. 
  13. Bloomberg (December 20, 2017). "Founder of Bitcoin Rival Litecoin Sells His Cryptocurrency After 7,500% Rally". Fortune. https://fortune.com/2017/12/20/charlie-lee-litecoin-cryptocurrency/. 
  14. Lee, Charlie [@SatoshiLite] (20 September 2018). "I'm working on Litecoin full-time and focused on Litecoin adoption.". https://twitter.com/SatoshiLite/status/1042648826027241472.