Spot On Chain, an AI-powered platform that analyses blockchain data and transactions, has revealed that Tron CEO Justin Sun deposited $21 million worth of crypto on Binance this week. This has created speculation that Sun could be about to dump his crypto on markets – as he has done in the past – and therefore potentially help drive down prices.
Spot On Chain’s data shows that Sun has transferred onto Binance 93,979 Aave tokens (worth $11.26 million at current prices), 3,800 Maker tokens (worth $9.3 million), 4,178 Compound tokens (worth $245,000), and 203,623 Liquity tokens (worth $217,000). Given Sun has held his Maker and Aave tokens for around a year, he would be set to make almost $14 million from those two cryptocurrencies alone.
Sun’s move raised concerns on crypto markets as deposits on centralised exchanges are usually read as a bearish signal because this indicates the assets are about to be sold. Aave markets saw a 1.4% drop following the news, which came after a steep 12.4% drop last Friday. Maker experienced a 10.6% decline over the weekend and a further 3.1% drop after the news of Sun’s deposit.
Some have raised questions about whether Sun may be attempting to manipulate the prices of these cryptos as he has engaged in similar tactics in the past – such as his dumping of Ethereum last year.
Disruption Banking journalist Tim Tolka reported last year that Sun had manipulated the TUSD stablecoin markets. Sun took $815 million of TUSD out of circulation, before using $865 million to print more staked Tether (stUSDT) which he then deposited in a lending protocol named after himself, causing a massive spike in the crypto’s market cap.
A user on Reddit has compiled a list of all the pump and dump schemes Sun has been involved with over the years. In 2019, for example, Sun announced that he would be announcing a partnership between Tron and a “hundred billion USD megacorporation next week,” which many took to mean Samsung. This caused the Tron token to surge by over 16% in the subsequent 24 hours but of course no such announcement ever took place.
The year before, Sun had said for weeks that he would be “joining forces with Internet service giant Baidu.” This generated massive hype on crypto markets that Tron and Baidu would be working together on cloud computing projects and was read as a sign that corporations and institutional investors were taking an increased interest in DeFi. As it turned out, Sun was simply purchasing some of Baidu’s basic cloud services like any normal customer.
A similar episode occurred in 2017, when Tron claimed that it was on the verge of a deal with Alibaba. And in 2018, when Sun announced a non-existent with Baofeng Group, the “Netflix of China.” And in 2021 when Sun said he had partnered with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. And so on.
To be fair to Sun, it could be the case that he simply wants to take profits on his Aave, Maker, Compound, and Liquity holdings. But Sun’s previous behaviour suggests that you can never discount the possibility of ulterior motives being at play.
Author: Harry Clynch
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