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Everyone has heard of Litecoin. Not to mention his charismatic creator Charlie Lee who sold all his LTC at the end of last year. A surprise move. Yet one that was meant to remove any conflict of interest between his active presence on social media and the price of the money he created.
But did you know that Charlie Lee, however revered in the cryptic world, has not actively developed the code for Litecoin in years? Or that another man, Franklyn Richards, is working tirelessly behind the scenes to keep Litecoin's banner high?
As the founding director of Litecoin Foundation, operator of Litecoin.com and COO of Zulu Republic, a blockchain company that develops a suite of products for Litecoin, one might think that Franklyn would be a little higher in the radar.
But a quick search for information on the Litecoin pioneer leads to few results. He does not use LinkedIn, he has not appeared in many interviews, and you'd have trouble trying to guess his Twitter account.
So, who is Franklyn Richards? What is your role in Litecoin? How did you meet Charlie Lee? What are your views on Bitcoin's mass adoption, atomic trades and cash? And where do you see the future of "silver to bitcoin gold?" (An expression that he hates vehemently by the way).
I met Litecoin.com's mysterious COO (and his mother) at the Web Summit in Lisbon last week to find out.
You're a difficult man to get information. Is privacy important to you?
"Umm, maybe," he reflects. "I'm very active, I'm not necessarily interested [in social media]. If it's business, I'll be there, if I'm interested.
But I'm generally not a big fan of wasting time on Twitter… I'm not interested in many speculations. I'm much more interested in putting my head down and working on building things that will become great next time. "
Why do you believe in cryptocurrency and how did it all start for you?
"Honestly, I was involved for the first time as most people in a" what is the exaggeration of this new thing? "In part it is" I can make money from this ", but the more I looked at it beyond the superficial level of digital money, the more interested in me.
I saw how the next big step forward in finance. And I think we're only at the beginning of this. I can not wait to spend time building the future of money ".
Interesting. So, how does a neo-enthusiastic cryptor from Nottingham, UK ("the land of Robinhood", jokes) get involved in a former Google employee and founder of Litecoin up to Silicon Valley? The Internet is a powerful tool to create the right connections, even in 2013.
Franklyn did not clash with Charlie in a starred encryption event or even met while working in person. He leaned toward him on Reddit.
So, why Litecoin in particular?
"Really, Litecoin was just because Bitcoin was too expensive … It's a bad thing to say, but it's a psychological thing that affects most people, and I do not think we should ignore it." People look at something like Bitcoin and say " this is so much money ".
At the time, the bitcoin was surpassing $ 100, and I was sitting with my mother in a pub [points to her at the other end of the interview table]and I said, "We should take one of these!"
The kind lady who accompanied Franklyn (whom I had mistakenly imagined was her PR) smiles and giggles. I turn to her and ask her what her reaction was, knowing perfectly the kind of answer I could expect from my parents for the purchase of something that can not be seen (especially after a few pints).
But she says quietly: "I listened to your explanation of your understanding and conviction of where this technology was going, and I trust him. I trusted him, and I actually invested some money", Rivela, before stopping,"that we have lost. "And then he laughs, the kind that the English do so well when things do not go right.
Franklyn looks at his mother without hassle. The strength of the dynamic that this mother-child couple is experiencing is evident. I suspect she would support him through thick and thin, even if Cripto and Litecoin had to implode on themselves.
He strokes his beard briefly and says, "Well, you did not really understand the technology, but you had confidence in me to join me and put some money in it." The price is a huge part of this but I think we should try to get away from it.
I believe that in the future people will use Bitcoin and will not know that they are using it. Why, why do we use any of the legal currencies? We do not use it because we will get money from it, we use it because it is forced on us ".
Quickly contrasts, understanding the weight of his words:
"Not that Bitcoin will be forced on people! It is better that institutions use technology, so people will use it without knowing it, and I think it will be a big incentive for the price, a lot of people will not know they are using it, but the benefits will surely come. I think it's basically the future of cryptocurrencies".
So, will cryptocurrencies be detected by centralized authorities at the end?
Franklyn nods and says, "We have to be realistic, I think that centralized institutions have a great benefit to derive and pass this benefit on to their users.It's a competition.It's capitalism.If I can offer my users something better and cheaper , other users will come to me. At the moment we are witnessing an institutional run to accept it.
The parent company of the New York Stock Exchange Ice Markets recently launched Bakkt and another – is the CME? – has also started the institutional trade and the security of these activities. Even the Twins are entering this. People realize that it does not matter if customers know something about this technology. We do not necessarily know how the cards or the banks work, but we know that they provide us with a service.
If companies provide better service using a decentralized currency like Litecoin or Bitcoin, then it is only better for them [the customers]and I think that's how it will work …
Most of the value will be derived from people who use it invisibly without knowing it. There's only a part of us that's in it, like "I'll keep my private keys", "it's the future", "down with the government!" His eyes light up.
"I like getting away from those people … I think we should work together, instead of slapping these things, we should show them that there's a better way."
Considering the strong position of Franklyn on capitalism and the institutions that assume cryptocurrency, presumably, is it in favor of regulation?
"I do not think that regulation is necessarily necessary"He says, taking me by surprise, since so many people report the lack of regulation as the biggest barrier to institutional adoption of cryptocurrencies, Franklyn's response is unexpected, but he continues to justify his response in his own way. exquisitely British and articulated.
"You can not regulate anything without controlling it, all it will do is inhibit its growth, if the states are very friendly and welcoming (which they should be), it would be better, but even if they put a bitcoin ban, people will continue to use bitcoins. .
There's a saying that I do not think it's gone often enough and this is "You can take your country out of the bitcoin, but you can not take bitcoins from your country. "And it's very true.
What about those who believe that Litecoin will replace Bitcoin or will it see Bitcoin 2.0?
"I think Bitcoin will always have its place as number one, at least for the foreseeable future, part of it is the origin, being the first of its kind.The brand is very strong.That's why I think people like Roger Ver and those who they are big in Bitcoin Cash they say "Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Cash" and they push the word "Bitcoin" because they know how strong that association is. "
His face blushes with indignation, as he says: "If they did not have that association in their name, Bitcoin Cash would not be worth in any way close to its current value, even with Roger and his support of billions to push and promote this thing.
Bitcoin Cash is fine for existing, but I'm not too fond of or welcoming social attacks. We should be more open. If you can not stand with your legs without riding the belts of something else, then this is a very weak good, I think. "
Continue, clearly gaining momentum and fully in its step:
"Litecoin does not use the name of Bitcoin, we never say it's Bitcoin 2.0, many of these things that came out of it use this kind of hype, we like to stay away from using this term because it shows how much you're addicted to to be connected to something much stronger. Litecoin stands alone. And it has a lot of time.
You've heard the phrase 'silver for bitcoin gold'. I'm not a fan. People use it because it's fun, easy, but it's much diminished, and the community and Litecoin understand why you should not really use it. "
What are the main advantages of Litecoin?
"We have lower commissions and faster blocking times," he says, and then pauses, "but let's be honest with ourselves, we could do faster blocking times, but having faster blocking times means that those blocks are less sure because it takes 2.5 minutes to restore a block instead of those 10 minutes …
But Litecoin is very strong and is much more a complement than a competitor. Bitcoin will be number one for a very long time, but these two things are mutually reinforcing. We do not compete, we benefit from it, in particular with the Lightning network and atomic swaps. "
Let's talk a bit about Lightning Network and Atomic Swaps …
"With the Lightning Network coming out if you want to send money and atomic swaps I can send my litecoin, and I can pay you in bitcoins, and everything is done automatically and without interruptions.
It is not completely there yet, but it will be. And I'm very excited about this. It would also mean that people who want to transfer bitcoins into bitcoins on the Lightning network could use litecoin as an intermediary that would lower their commissions.
Litecoin has a huge amount of liquidity in the market that is very important; currently, no other currency really has that on the market. Ethereum is fine, but it's not money; it's an app platform and is no longer decentralized because people are printing tokens on the network. His blockchain has gone from a few gigabytes to over a terabyte or something crazy like that.
Bitcoin and Litecoin do one thing very well, and this is money. And the money is complementary to each other, they do not hit each other. "
Let's talk about the Litecoin Foundation and Charlie Lee …
"The Litecoin Foundation is a non-profit organization created in Singapore to support the Litecoin ecosystem, so we are not connected to Litecoin, we do not develop Litecoin, we simply support businesses and people who want to know more about technology, if you had to get rid of the foundations, Litecoin would still exist alone as a strong and secure form of money. As long as it is separated and not cooked in the thing, that's fine.
The problem with the start of many new things is that their companies are ICO or venture capital, they are responsible to people and they have this token that must generate money for investors … With the Litecoin Foundation, we are only a Another organization that has the task of saying "this is nice, you should look at it".
Franklyn has a guilty expression on his face and a sincere expression in his eyes. It is clear that he does not mince his words.
"I think (and Charlie understood when he left the project) that he should do well without him." Many people may not know, but Charlie has not really developed the code for Litecoin for ages, I think now.
We have another team of people separated from the Litecoin foundation. We sponsor them, we give them money, but we do not force them to do anything, it's just a donation to say "keep up the good work".
I think he wants to go down as the creator of this new technology, Litecoin, and it is here that he will derive its value and appreciation. It's like, "I have the money, I got into this technology early, it's not about money for me".
It's like having a child. He wants to see that the child is successful or he may feel like he has failed. But he has moved away from a lot of things, and he is fundamentally the main promoter of Litecoin and the external face of the project. It opens the door to many opportunities that otherwise we would not have had, like with HTC.
He held up as a figurehead. His role is like a father figure for us to be a little out of the way and we go forward more and more autonomously but we drive the ship when necessary.
I myself manage Litecoin.com alone. The Foundation is its own thing, separate from Litecoin.com. We are all separated. If any of us were to disappear, the ecosystem would still remain intact…
In the beginning you said it was hard to find information about me. Part of this depends only on me, but I'm certainly much more involved than a lot of people would do. "
Indeed. It seems as if Franklyn really was a one-man show. But then again, we know it's not the nature of the crypt, nor the truth. Litecoin is a community without a single person responsible for its increase or fall, bankruptcy or success. So with this in mind …
What are the main challenges for moving forward with Litecoin?
"We will have exactly the same problems of downsizing that we will go on like Bitcoin," admits Franklyn, although he contests: "They are not so common now because fewer people make transactions on litecoin.We still have tens of thousands of transactions every day and millions, if not hundreds of millions, moving on the Litecoin network …
We are also working with Lightning Labs. It is not "Bitcoin then Litecoin". They are doing them at the same time. Lightning Labs is implementing Litecoin in the network together with Bitcoin at the same time.
I believe that in the future there will be many resources connected to each other, but at the moment it is Bitcoin and Litecoin to guide it. It is not Bitcoin and Ethereum, or Bitcoin and Ripple, or Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash. It's Bitcoin and Litecoin, the two things that focus on doing something very well and that's money.
And my last question, then. Where do you see this whole thing in 10 years?
"In 10 years?" His eyes widen, "Much bigger than now, I think it will take a huge step towards the institutional side, and it will be thrown into users without necessarily being aware of it.
I will not speculate on the price of these activities [bummer]but I will say that if you talk to me in 10 years, we will look back and we will go "Wow, everyone was in a panic that this thing was dying and was in the sewer!" grins. His mother smiles. Rest the gesture. We all share a common understanding and trust that cryptography is, in fact, the future.
"Compared to activities like gold with a market capitalization of $ 7 trillion, we are a fraction of it, we still have a long way to go and we are about to start."
So fasten and enjoy the journey.
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