Is TRON CEO Justin Sun Cashing Out? $236M Stablecoins Transfers Raise Eyebrows

TRON CEO Justin Sun has raised speculation that he is cashing out following his recent cryptocurrency transactions.

The address associated with TRON CEO Justin Sun withdrew $50 million in BUSD from Aave V2, according to crypto researcher Colin Wu. Citing Etherscan data, Wu says Sun then transferred 70 million to Paxos. Earlier this week, Sun had already withdrawn $50 million in BUSD from Aave V2.

The address marked as Justin Sun (0x3dd…5296) withdrew 50m BUSD from Aave V2 and transferred 70m to Paxos. Another address (0x611…DF01) withdraws 72m USDC from Binance and transfers it to Circle. In the past half month, Justin Sun has transferred $236 million to Circle.

— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) October 21, 2022

Wu added that another address had withdrawn $72 million in USDC from Binance, which was then transferred to Circle. Speculating that this may also be TRON CEO Justin Sun, Wu surmised that the Chinese entrepreneur transferred $236 million to Circle. 

TRON CEO Justin Sun Responds to Allegations

Sun reacted to the growing speculation of him cashing out, saying that it “is not true.”

In his response, TRON CEO Justin Sun claims that the USDC Circle transaction was merely an “internal capital deployment with double counting.” He maintains that he is “highly bullish on crypto,” adding that related fund allocations would likely increase as the business develops.

The rumor of cashing out is not true. The transaction with USDC Circle is only internal capital deployment with double counting. We are highly bullish on crypto, recruiting vigorously, increasing our holdings of Dominica legal tenders like #TRX #HT #BTT #JST #NFT #SUN.

— H.E. Justin Sun🌞🇬🇩🇩🇲🔥 (@justinsuntron) October 21, 2022

Speculation over Sun’s intentions has heightened as most of these transactions have taken place since he joined Huobi’s advisory committee.

Days after joining the Chinese blockchain ecosystem, TRON CEO Justin Sun revealed that he owned “tens of millions” of the platform’s native token. Believing HT to be the “core value” of the platform, Sun said it would be at the center of Huboi’s strategy going forward.

From Blockchain to Bonds?

One Twitter suggested that TRON CEO Justin Sun was actually divesting from decentralized finance. The goal is to put the capital in US government bonds.

“Bet Sun is getting out of DeFi and into US treasury bills … higher yields, lower risk,” Alex Krüger said.

Although this statement may have been somewhat facetious, it’s no longer outside the realm of possibility.

MarketWatch reporter Frances Yue highlighted that bond yields have recently outstripped potential gains from cryptocurrencies. For instance, yields of 10-year US Treasury bills are now higher than 4% annually, “higher than ether’s current staking rewards.”