This will be the last issue released prior to the long-awaited ‘halvening’ event, in which the mining rewards per-block are reduced on the Litecoin blockchain, and the Warren Buffett “Power Lunch” with Charlie Lee and Justin Sun. Also, we will be discussing the halvening – as well as how anticipation has affected values, before and after.
Top News
Welcome to our fortnightly series of Litecoin news roundups, in addition to a brief look at periodical price movements.
July 23rd
Sun Delays Buffett Lunch, Leaving Lee, Founder of Litecoin Looking Foolish
Justin Sun (CEO of TRON and Bittorrent) announced that the much anticipated ‘Power Lunch’ he had won with the ‘Oracle of Omaha’ Warren Buffett was going to be postponed indefinitely – promising that both “parties [have] agreed to reschedule at a later date”.
This announcement came via a message posted to the Twitter page of TRON Foundation on 22nd July 2019 (just three days before the arranged date), which claims that Sun had fallen “ill with kidney stones”.
Reactions from the community however tell a different story, and they can be broken down into three distinct categories.
1. Those who have grown weary of the long line of excuse-lined controversies that Justin Sun has amassed throughout his career.
2. Those who have directly pointed to suggestions of fraudulent activity and that Sun may be a scammer himself.
3. Well-wishers / nice guys
Justin Sun famously paid a massive $4,567,888 for the opportunity to sit down with the crypto-sceptic investment legend Warren Buffett through eBay auction – hoping to gather some of the top minds in blockchain and cryptocurrency in a bid to persuade the man.
The Warren Buffett ‘Power Lunch’ is a recurring event that has been going for over 20 years and as such, a number of traditions and conventions have developed over the years. Conventions which Justin Sun has been quick to shake-up in the run-up to the $4.5 million meeting.
For example, the Power Lunch has historically taken place at the original restaurant of high-end steakhouse chain Smith & Wollensky. For the 20th anniversary of the lunch, Sun earned free headlines resulting from his bold decision to (for the first time) move lunch away from the New York City location, to three-Michelin star Silicon Valley restaurant Quince.
In addition, Sun invited a number of notable members from the crypto community – whilst massively promoting the event through his personal Twitter page, as well as that of TRON. Generally speaking, attendees have been known to rather keep their identities secret – and the meetings small.
These decisions have only served to further highlight the unprofessionalism of the postponement – whilst making those preemptive actions and announcements look like bluster in retrospect.
Charlie Lee representing Litecoin is among a sizable number of attendees who had accepted an invitation from Justin Sun, alongside Jeremy Allaire (CEO of Circle), Livio Wang (CEO at Huobi), Yoni Assia (CEO and Co-Founder of eToro), and Helen Hai (from the Binance Charity Foundation).
Hai is presumably representing Binance in the stead of the company’s CEO, Changpeng Zhao, who politely turned down Justin Sun’s invitation. Other invitees who either rejected or chose not to RSVP include non-Buffett crypto-skeptic businessman: President of the United States Donald Trump.
Lee was one of the first to be invited, and one of the first to accept also. Whilst not directly related to the event, his name has been irrevocably associated, having voluntarily featured in a number of tweets and an image with Sun relating to the event.
What Really Happened?
In the midst of the claims made on behalf of Justin Sun claiming that he had fallen ill with kidney stones, another story emerged that fanned the flames of public criticism (the medical probability of such an issue arising just days before such a specific moment notwithstanding).
Reports circulated around the same time, referencing Chinese microblogging service Weibo concerning the date change. They claimed that Sun had been legally banned from leaving China by the state government for a handful of reasons: ranging from money laundering to fraud.
It is unknown to this day for what exact reason the event was postponed, however the new date has yet to be confirmed.
More Stories
July 18th
Everybody Just Realised Coinbase Bundle Is Dead
Coinbase Bundle, a product which allowed users to easily purchase a “market-weighted” basket of cryptocurrencies with as little as $25, has been shut down. Included tokens included Litecoin and Bitcoin, along with four others.
Interestingly, the news was officiated in an FAQ change which apparently went live earlier this year – yet the story has only been widely reported on as of this month.
According to the FAQ:
“Coinbase Bundle purchases have been deprecated, as such all assets purchased in the Coinbase Bundle have been redistributed to their respective individual asset wallets…
“You will still be able to view the Coinbase Bundle purchase under Tools > History. [But] the purchase will no longer be available to view in Accounts.”
July 23rd
Charlie Lee Posts Then Immediately Removes Controversial Tweet Regarding Dash Instamine
A group of dedicated Reddit users have uncovered a controversial tweet posted by Charlie Lee which he had quickly tried to remove, presumably as a result of the negative and critical feedback he received in response.
In the message (original URL here , now unavailable) Lee brought up the infamous Dash ‘instamine’, in which founding members, the first adopters and other selected individuals have early access. Allowing them to earn the highest of mining rewards (which are allocated to the earliest of blocks to be mined over the lifespan of a PoW cryptocurrency).
He received backlash for this however, as another thread points out: “Litecoin had about the same premine as Dash”.
You can see that the Streisand Effect is in motion here – and as a result, Lee has brought negative attention to Litecoin for no good reason.
Price Movements
Information correct as of 00:18 AM (UTC+1), 13th August 2019
![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://blockstudio.mysites.io/news/litecoin-ltc-news-roundup-16-july-30-july-2019/&media=https://blockstudio.mysites.io/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/litecoin-banner.png&description=Litecoin founder Charlie Lee to join the "Power Lunch" with Warren Buffett and Justin Sun.){kind=link}