Litecoin Founder Says in ‘Best Case’ Recent Bank Stake Could Result in Crypto Services

Litecoin founder Charlie Lee posted on Reddit today, July 17, to clarify his position within the Litecoin Foundation and the future of the Foundation following its acquisition of a stake in German bank WEG Bank AG. In his post, Lee mentioned the possibility of the bank offering crypto services.

Last week, the Litecoin Foundation acquired a 9.9 percent share in WEG Bank through a new strategic partnership with crypto-fiat payments firm TokenPay. In exchange for providing its blockchain, logistics, and marketing expertise to TokenPay’s crypto and business operations, Litecoin received TokenPay’s former 9.9 percent stake in WEG. 

In his post on Tuesday, Lee sought to “clarify some things about recent events,” providing some details regarding the bank acquisition, and stating that the Foundation “did not pay any money for this stake in the bank.” Lee added that he expects to receive a board position at the bank. Regarding the possible expansion of crypto services, the Litecoin founder commented:

“Best case is that with this bank, we are able to create and deliver crypto solutions like debit cards, merchant processing, and other innovative solutions. However, even with a stake and influence at the bank, it’s not guaranteed that this will succeed. People have brought up valid concerns that we still need to work with and be approved by players in the current financial systems like Visa and SWIFT, but we definitely have a much higher chance of succeeding now that we own a stake in a bank with bank licenses.”

Lee said that with a seat on the board of the bank, he will be in a position to positively influence the further adoption of cryptocurrencies in the bank’s operations. He added that, even if they are unable to work with the bank in pushing for crypto services, the Litecoin Foundation will benefit financially from their stake.

While Lee criticized ICOs in his post “because some of them are outright scams and most of them are set up to fail,” he praised TokenPay for their sale of TPAY tokens, saying that “they did not run away with the their funds” and that TokenPay’s leadership is legitimately interested in more crypto adoption. Lee stated that, for the sake transparency, neither he nor the Litecoin Foundation own or plan to own TPAY tokens. Lee is the managing director of the Litecoin Foundation.

At press time, Litecoin (LTC) is riding a wave of positive momentum in crypto markets, trading at $90.37, up 18.03 percent over the last seven days.