Rumors are swirling once again around Tron founder Justin Sun. Sun announced yesterday that he would not be attending his $4.57 million lunch with Warren Buffett tomorrow.
Where In The World Is Justin Sun? Hint: Not San Francisco
First revealed by CoinDesk correspondent Wolfie Zhao, Chinese publication 21st Century Business Herald lambasted Sun just hours after the kidney stone story went live.
The Herald article insinuates that Sun rescheduled his meeting with Buffett because he’s probably wanted by Chinese authorities.
For what? In relation to the Tron ICO itself, among other things.
At the height of the last ICO wave, China passed a law that banished crypto fundraising techniques such as token sales.
The communist country gave all existing blockchain companies a grace period to accept and process refunds for Chinese citizens.
The article repeatedly says that its author has sources who confirm Sun’s presence in Mainland China.
Pardon the poor Google translation:
“The reporters of the 21st Century Business Herald have learned from many sources that Sun Yuchen is still in the territory. On the occasion of its cancellation of the appointment, there are still several questions to be answered: [his Peiwo app] is suspected of pornographic transactions; the Tron project is mainly based on gambling applications, and domestic users can directly access it.”
The gist of it is: if he knows the Chinese government wants to talk to him, how’s he going to make it to lunch?
The attack article, which introduced little new information, also claims that Sun’s Peiwo app might be in trouble over pornography allegations. We have so far been able to find any independent reporting regarding Peiwo and/or pornography. What we know of Peiwo is that it is intended to be a Chinese version of Snapchat, and it has Tron built-in at this point.
Tron, NEO, and several other Chinese-based initial coin offering projects offered refunds immediately following China’s guidance in 2017. Sun took to Weibo – a Chinese social media site – to remind said reporters and his followers.
He said, in part (translation):
“The Tron foundation is based in Singapore in compliance with local regulations and laws.”
His Weibo post did not address whether or not he was in mainland China or whether or not he currently fears the government.
Still, there is plenty to be suspicious about.
Just four hours before the postponement of his meet with Buffett was announced, Sun tweeted that he was officially inviting yet another participant in the form of Huobi exec Chris Lee.
I’d like to invite @Chrislee_crypto, the CFO, Board Secretary and VP of International Business Development from @HuobiGlobal to join my Charity lunch with @WarrenBuffett. 3 days to go and more friends to be announced!
— Justin Sun (@justinsuntron) July 22, 2019
Beyond that, unconfirmed reports have it that the lunch is still taking place in San Francisco on Thursday: it’s just that neither Justin Sun or Warren Buffet will be there.
The last official tweet from TRON:
TRON Foundation announces postponement of Warren Buffett lunch, press conferences after founder Justin Sun falls ill with kidney stones. Parties agreed to reschedule at a later date. @GLIDEsf @WarrenBuffett
— TRON Foundation (@Tronfoundation) July 22, 2019
But in the following video, Altcoin Daily claims that the event will still be going down Thursday, but the most important parts of the event will happen later.
At no point does this video show an e-mail from the Tron Foundation. The Google link is at least not publicly accessible.
It could be set to private, or it could be an attachment, but visual indications would be apparent in either case.
— Paul ‘P. H.’ Madore (@Bitillionaire) July 23, 2019
This reporter tagged the Tron Foundation on Twitter to alert them to the story.
