Tron Founder Justin Sun Denies Selling Stake In Huobi – Calls Himself An “Adviser

Updated: 02 April 2023

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Justin Sun, the founder of the blockchain DAO ecosystem Tron, turned down claims made by Bloomberg report that he held talks about selling a stake in Huobi Global crypto exchange.

In a tweet, Justin responded to the claims: “As much as I love a good April Fool’s Day prank, I must deny the report that Huobi Global is seeking a stake buyer.”

As much as I love a good April Fool's Day prank, I must deny the report that @HuobiGlobal is seeking a stake buyer. Rest assured, Huobi is committed to providing our users with a safe, reliable, and innovative platform for trading and investing in cryptocurrency. ❤️

— H.E. Justin Sun 孙宇晨 (@justinsuntron) April 1, 2023

Tron’s Founder Allegedly Planning A Sale

According to reports by Bloomberg, Sun has recently been reaching out to investors concerning the sale of a stake at Huobi to raise capital for the company. According to Bloomberg’s source, who opted not to be disclosed, it was still unknown the amount of stake he planned to sell and at what price point.

Seeing as the talks were still budding, it is also unknown whether or not investors agreed to the plan.

Soon after the reports hit the internet, Justin Sun took to Twitter to deny the claims terming them an “April fools’ prank”. He also stated that:” Rest assured, Huobi is committed to providing our users with a safe, reliable, and innovative platform for trading and investing in cryptocurrency. “

Sun further dismissed the rumors in a message to Bloomberg saying, “We are not seeking and will not seek any buyers for Huobi.” The same was communicated by a spokesperson to Huobi who said that the company had no plans to find a new owner.

The relationship between Sun and the exchange has always been mysterious and difficult to understand. The Chinese cryptopreneur has persistently denied holding any stake in the exchange and defining his connection to the company to be that of an “adviser”.

On the contrary, since the year began, Sun has dedicated about $200 million of his own money to keep the company in business. Additionally, Sun through About Capital, a Hong-Kong based asset management company whose major investor is Sun, bought the majority stake (60%) at Huobi for $1 billion from Huobi’s co-founder Leon Li.

Additionally, he also reportedly works at Huobi’s Singapore headquarters and represents the company in public appearances. Despite all this, he still denies having the majority shares at the exchange and states that he became an “adviser” after acquiring a large number of HT, the company’s native token.

Huobi Global, which is based in Singapore, is one of the largest Asian exchanges for digital assets and supports more than 400 cryptocurrencies. However, after the Chinese government banned cryptocurrencies in 2021, the business suffered significant losses in recent years.

Sun Is No Nonger A Diplomat

On the hand, Sun, who was a permanent ambassador for Grenada at the World Trade Organization (WTO) since 2021, confirmed having lost the position on March 31. However, this is after denying multiple times when the crypto community alleged that he had already lost it.

As my term as the Ambassador of Grenada to the World Trade Organization (@wto) comes to a close, effective 31 March 2023, I want to express my gratitude for the wonderful experiences and the amazing support that I have received during my time here.

— H.E. Justin Sun 孙宇晨 (@justinsuntron) March 31, 2023

Contrary to his statement that his term ended on 31st March 2023, reports from the Grenada Broadcasting Network claimed that Sun was stripped of the ambassador status shortly after the June 2022 elections, when the New National Party, which had appointed him to the role, lost the elections.

After being appointed, Sun has bragged about his accomplishments, addressing himself as “His Excellency” in interviews and on his social media pages. Up to the time of publication, Sun has continued to use the title “H.E.” on his personal Twitter.

Moreover, Sun is facing charges with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for allegedly violating securities rules. The SEC filed a lawsuit against the founder of Tron earlier in March for selling TRON (TRX) and BitTorrent (BTT), which are regarded as unregistered securities.

Sun and his companies Tron Foundation, BitTorrent Foundation, and Rainberry were also accused of manipulating the market for TRX, Tron’s native token, through “extensive wash trading”.

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