Another hard week for the crypto industry — particularly Justin Sun
It’s been an extraordinarily difficult week for crypto companies and scammers, as global law enforcement and regulatory regimes have continued to squeeze the industry.
From a Wells Notice for Coinbase and crypto getting slammed by the White House, to Do Kwon getting apprehended with fake identification documents in Montenegro, there seems to be no escaping the long arm of the law.
But the strangest behavior from anyone currently being eviscerated by law enforcement has to be that of Justin Sun, founder of the Tron blockchain and owner of several cryptocurrency exchanges.
Sun is being sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission, getting lambasted by Huobi users, struggling to keep his stablecoins at peg, and has possibly lost his diplomatic immunity — yet he’s said very little in response.
Sun’s struggles
Sun’s problems have snowballed since the collapse of FTX and the unmasking of Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) as a giant fraud.
Sun, who appeared to have funds trapped on the insolvent FTX, has seen numerous tokens he’s purchased or endorsed either collapse or not perform as designed — from Huobi Token (for use on the Sun-controlled Huobi exchange) to TUSD, USDD, and USDJ.
Two of the three stablecoins remain off their intended price points and the True Token network no longer has a known auditor.
Read more: SEC sues Justin Sun over TRX, BTT, market manipulation
Meanwhile, a crash in the price of the Huobi exchange token and disruption on the platform itself has led to an incensed Chinese public, which regularly comments on Sun’s Weibo to complain or lob threats.
Addressing the concerns
Though some may choose to face these numerous issues head-on, Sun appears to prefer compartmentalization and deflection. To his Chinese-facing audience (on Chinese social media) he hasn’t even mentioned the fact that he’s being sued by the SEC. To the English-speaking audience on platforms like Twitter, he tamps down problems facing Huobi and Poloniex.
Additionally, he hasn’t even addressed the allegations that he’s lost his Grenadian ambassadorship and citizenship. The Grenadian government has also failed to respond to any questions about either its foreign affairs policies or Sun.
Lastly, Sun is expected to have to show up in the United States for two very different reasons. One reason is that the SEC is taking him to trial in front of a jury, and while the prosecution is civil, he may still be asked to appear as a witness. Secondly, Sun purchased a multimillion-dollar ticket to fly into space on Blue Origin — it’s assumed that this is non-refundable.
So, will Sun venture back to the US and face a civil trial, a trip to space, and other, possibly far more terrifying hypotheticals (like a criminal trial and arrest), or will he remain in Singapore, far from the eyes of US regulators and law enforcement agents?
It remains to be seen, but Sun’s problems continue to exponentially grow and the solutions appear to be diminishing.
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