Charlie Lee Claims Bithumb Hack ‘Doesn’t Really Change the Fundamentals of Bitcoin
The founder of Litecoin, Charlie Lee, on Wednesday, went on CNBC’s Fast Money program to talk about the recent hack of Bithumb, South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, in addition to other developments in the crypto space.
Discussing through telephone, Lee underscored that even though it is not surprising for cryptocurrency investors to show concern when an exchange gets hacked, such a situation does not change the basics of crypto assets.
“Whenever there’s an exchange hack, people get scared and the price drops. It happens all the time. The thing is it doesn’t really change the fundamentals of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies,” Lee noted.
Lee went ahead to make comparisons to a gold theft at a bank, stating that-theoretically- it should not influence the price of the precious metal. In a similar way, Lee believes that the hack of a cryptocurrency exchange should not affect the basics of crypto assets.
Nevertheless, Lee claimed that significant efforts need to be made with regards to improving the security systems of the exchanges. Yet, Lee did not hesitate to state that cryptocurrencies are a promising technology and exchanges remain on the learning path, with constant updates being made, although there is more to be done.
Lee went on to add that the responsibility of securing crypto assets should not be left to exchanges such as Bithumb. He contended that investors must take charge of the security and safety of their digital assets by making wise choices in connection to the exchanges they wish to deal with. Paralleled to fiat currencies, investors need to be more cautious.
With concerns to development in the cryptocurrency sphere, Lee noted that Bitcoin developers had made great efforts recently and this included the activation of SegWit. Presently, various developers are focused on initiating the mainnet release of the Lightning Network, which is expected to improve Bitcoin’s scalability. However, even though the Lightning Network was solely created with Bitcoin as a top priority, the protocol has been modified for Litecoin and other networks.
Regardless of the development made, Lee grieved that the Bitcoin price has declined by between 60-70 percent and this is not reflective of recent technological development. But Lee is hopeful that with time, the price will adjust to reflect the development that had been made. According to Lee, the only reason behind the recent prices was the overpoweringly bearish sentiment.
