Charlie Lee
Born 1977 · Age 48
American computer scientist and entrepreneur; creator of Litecoin and Managing Director of the Litecoin Foundation; former Google software engineer and Director of Engineering at Coinbase.
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Life & Career Timeline
Born in Ivory Coast
Charlie Lee was born to Chinese parents in the West African nation of Ivory Coast.
Family moved to the United States
Lee and his family moved from the Ivory Coast to the United States when he was thirteen.
Graduated Lawrenceville School (High School)
Lee graduated from the Lawrenceville School, a prep school in New Jersey.
Earned B.S. in Computer Science from MIT
Lee completed his Bachelor of Science in Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Earned M.Eng. in Computer Science from MIT
Lee completed his Master of Engineering (M.Eng.) in Computer Science at MIT.
Joined KANA Communications as Software Engineer
Lee started his professional software-engineering career at KANA Communications after graduating from MIT.
Left KANA Communications
Concluded his tenure at KANA (approx. 2000–2003).
Joined Guidewire Software as Senior Software Engineer
Lee worked at Guidewire Software as a senior software engineer from roughly 2003 to 2007.
Joined Google as Software Engineer
Lee joined Google (tenure ~2007–2013), working on projects including YouTube Mobile, Chrome OS, and Google Play Games.
Mined small pre-release cache (genesis/mined coins)
Before releasing Litecoin publicly, Lee mined a small amount (~150 coins) to establish the genesis and initial chain state; he intentionally avoided large premines.
First introduced to Bitcoin
Lee read about Bitcoin (notably via an article about Silk Road) and became interested in cryptocurrency.
Developed Fairbrix (failed cryptocurrency)
Lee's first cryptocurrency project, Fairbrix (a Tenebrix clone), crashed weeks after release due to a transaction/51% attack bug; he abandoned fixing it to work on Litecoin.
Designed Litecoin technical specs (Scrypt, 2.5 min blocks, 84M supply)
Key design choices included Scrypt proof-of-work (to favor CPU/GPU miners initially), 2.5-minute average block time, and 84 million max supply—positioned as 'silver to Bitcoin's gold.'
Positioned Litecoin as complementary to Bitcoin
Lee publicly framed Litecoin as 'silver to Bitcoin's gold' and targeted lightweight, everyday transactions.
Released Litecoin publicly on Bitcointalk
Charlie Lee released Litecoin (LTC), a Bitcoin fork with several design changes; he mined 150 coins before public release.
Transferred Litecoin development leadership to Warren Togami (approx.)
Sometime after launch and as Litecoin scaled, Lee delegated day-to-day development leadership to Warren Togami to focus on broader project direction and advocacy.
Media coverage: Wired profile 'Ex-Googler Gives the World a Better Bitcoin'
Major media outlets profiled Lee and Litecoin (Wired, Forbes, etc.), increasing public awareness.
Litecoin listed on Bitfinex; popularity surged in China
Litecoin got listed on major exchanges (including Bitfinex), boosting adoption and leading to increased interest in China.
Left Google to join Coinbase (Engineering Manager)
In July 2013 Lee left Google to take a role at Coinbase, giving him more time to work on Litecoin and advocating for exchange support.
Promoted to Director of Engineering at Coinbase
Within about two years at Coinbase, Lee was promoted from Engineering Manager to Director of Engineering.
Founded the Litecoin Foundation
The non-profit Litecoin Foundation was formed to advance Litecoin; Lee became Managing Director (role formalized around this period).
Left Coinbase to focus on Litecoin full-time
Lee left Coinbase in 2017 to dedicate himself to the Litecoin Foundation and Litecoin promotion and development.
Litecoin listed on Bitstamp and BitPay
Major listings/partnerships in 2017 (Bitstamp, BitPay) materially raised Litecoin's profile and merchant acceptance.
Criticism for tweets affecting LTC price
Lee faced criticism in 2017 that his public tweets could affect Litecoin's price, which motivated his selling/donating most of his holdings to avoid conflict of interest.
Industry recognition during 2017 crypto bull run
With Litecoin price gains in 2017, Lee and Litecoin received significant mainstream and financial-media attention (Bloomberg, Fortune, CNBC).
Sold / donated almost all personal Litecoin holdings
Lee announced he had sold or donated nearly all of his LTC holdings (retaining a few minted physical coins) citing a conflict of interest after criticism that his tweets could move LTC prices.
Publicly stated reduced involvement to support decentralization
Following rumors and internal decisions, Lee confirmed stepping back from active leadership to encourage Litecoin decentralization.
Reported social media influence — ~1,000,000 followers
By mid/2018 Lee had amassed roughly 1 million followers in the crypto and blockchain community (major influencer status).
Tweet: Working on Litecoin full-time
Lee tweeted that he was working on Litecoin full-time and was focused on Litecoin adoption.
Public conference remarks about 'sound money'
At a 2019 conference Lee stated his primary goal is to 'create sound money' and spoke about the future of cryptocurrency and decentralization.
Litecoin made available on PayPal's crypto service
PayPal added support for several cryptocurrencies including Litecoin, expanding mainstream access to LTC (PayPal crypto rollout October 2020).
Announced plan to adopt Mimblewimble (privacy/scalability)
Litecoin development included plans to incorporate the Mimblewimble protocol (extension block) to improve privacy and scalability; Lee announced progress and timelines in 2021.
Litecoin 10th anniversary
Litecoin celebrated ten years since launch in October 2021; Lee reflected publicly on Litecoin's longevity and goals.
Litecoin remains a top cryptocurrency by longevity and liquidity
By 2022 Litecoin had sustained its position among the top cryptocurrencies, a reflection of Lee's early design and community stewardship.
Still serving as Managing Director of the Litecoin Foundation
As of 2022, Lee continued working full-time on Litecoin adoption and with the Litecoin Foundation.
Joined advisory board of Luxxfolio
Lee joined the advisory board of digital infrastructure and technology company Luxxfolio (announced June 25, 2025).
Key Achievement Ages
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