Litecoin price drops after Startup Litepay Grounds Its Operations
Litecoin-based processor Litepay has shut down its operations according to a Monday news release by the Litecoin Foundation and the decision is reportedly based on disagreements between Litepay and the Litecoin organization. Litecoin price dropped over 10% after the announcement has been made.
The announcement which was posted on Litecoin Foundation’s website claims that CEO Kenneth Asare has decided to terminate the company’s operations and is reportedly planning to sell his firm. The news post further adds that the decision was most likely fueled by the differences between Litepay and the Litecoin Foundation as well as the merchant community.
Asare was grueld during a Reddit session in which users complained about the company’s lack of transparency, to which the Litepay CEO could not provide adequate or satisfactory clarification. Following these concerns raised on Reddit, Asare reportedly asked for more funding for the non-profit organization but it was denied. This is also believed to have been one of the contributing factors that encouraged the closure of Litepay.
The announcement comes just one month after Litepay started rolling out it's merchant services which reportedly kicked off on February 26. Prior to that, the Litecoin merchant processor had been applauded by the Litecoin Foundation for its initiative of providing merchant services in the U.S. In addition to its recent woes, there were accountability issues given that Asare failed to produce an account of how his organization spent the previous funding, backed by objective evidence as well as statements.
Litecoin released a statement on its website saying: “We are greatly disheartened that this saga has ended in this way and we apologize for not doing enough due diligence that could have uncovered some of these issues earlier. We are currently working hard to tighten our due diligence practices and ensure that this does not happen again.”
The Litecoin Foundation pointed out in its statement that it was doing just fine before Litecoin came and offered the promise of a litecoin merchant service. This means that the termination of the service should not cause affect the performance and operations of the Litecoin organization. The Litecoin ecosystem is quite large and it is expected to continue growing especially through support offered by other players within the market who already have products that are ready for the market. The officials of the Litecoin Foundation is still confident in the ability to make Litecoin easier for the world to use.