Litecoin delivered a clear warning for anyone navigating the crypto world: the era of truly decentralized, fairly launched, proof-of-work (PoW) coins without borders, premines, or venture capitalists is behind us. Amid increasing centralization and rising threat of attack, it pays to “choose your freedom money wisely.”
“It is basically impossible to duplicate the launch of a fully decentralized, fairly launched, no pre-mine, borderless, void of VC’s, hard capped PoW cryptocurrency like that of bitcoin or litecoin and not have it co-opted or attacked at this point. That ship has sailed, people..”
Why security and decentralization matter: the Monero attack
Recent events with Monero (XMR) help to illustrate Litecoin’s message. On August 12, 2025, Monero suffered a 51% attack after the Qubic mining pool gained majority control of its hash rate, reorganizing six blocks and orphaning approximately 60 others.
This temporarily threatened network security, forced Kraken exchange to suspend Monero deposits, and sent the price tumbling over 13% in a week. The attack highlighted a key vulnerability of PoW chains that lack critical mass (especially those that are privacy-focused with fewer miners), showing that even pioneering projects with solid privacy technology, like Monero, are not immune if their degree of decentralization is insufficient.
Proof of stake and the perils of co-option
While PoW chains like Bitcoin and Litecoin have stayed loyal to their launch principles, many newer chains have adopted the proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus in a quest for reduced energy consumption and greater transaction speed.
PoS allows users to stake coins to help secure the network and earn rewards. However, the centralizing tendencies of PoS are well-documented. According to the academic study, Centralization in Proof-of-Stake Blockchains: A Game-Theoretic Analysis, by July 2025, more than 60% of staked Ethereum belonged to just five entities, including Lido and major exchanges.
This concentration led to governance votes where a small number of stakeholders wielded disproportionate power, influencing upgrades and protocol changes.
Solana’s validator and staking ecosystem is similarly dominated by a handful of well-capitalized entities. This exposes the network to outsized influence and increased risks of censorship or manipulation if those actors coordinate, are pressured, or compromised; “co-opted,” as Litecoin wrote.
While PoS is efficient and scalable, the system’s fate can hinge on large holders, making it vulnerable to regulatory capture, exchange outages, or orchestrated attacks. The same study revealed that the more centralized staking becomes, the greater the chance of network co-option, as opposed to the more resilient distributed mining models of classic PoW blockchains.
The value of “freedom money”
While there is arguably no second best, Bitcoin and Litecoin, both launched without VC money or pre-mines and with fixed supply caps, remain touchstones for true “freedom money.” Their reliance on open PoW mining, global distribution, and established security has shielded them from many co-option risks.
Widespread distribution of mining power, fixed supplies (21 million for Bitcoin, 84 million for Litecoin), and permissionless participation make them rare examples in an increasingly centralized crypto landscape.
With the rise of attacks on vulnerable PoW networks and increasing centralization of PoS chains, Litecoin’s advice couldn’t be more timely. Freedom money isn’t just about price; it’s about resilience, distribution, and the ability to resist capture from within or without, not only defining your portfolio, but your financial sovereignty.
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