justin sun

Sharktron Defi Project Devs Exit Scam: Tron Foundation Says Part of Missing Funds Now Frozen

10/11/2020 by Idelto Editor

Developers of the Sharktron defi project have exit scammed with reports suggesting that TRX tokens worth up to $10 million are missing. The Tron Foundation has confirmed the theft, but is quick to inform Sharktron token holders that a portion of the missing funds has been frozen. The exit scam comes a few weeks after the Sharktron devs issued a press release inviting investors to buy the token.

Binance Freezes Part of Stolen Funds

However, Justin Sun’s Tron Foundation, seemingly eager to get past this event, has issued a response on Twitter. The statement, which does not state the value of funds stolen, says:

Regarding the shark incident, we have contacted Binance and worked together on chasing down the funds and people behind this. A portion of the funds has been frozen on Binance. If you were a victim in this case, please file a police report and work with law enforcement to seek recovery. We will be also working with all exchanges to track the rest of the funds and protect the interest of the Tron communities.

Sharktron, which issued a press release about the decentralized finance (defi) project in October, claims the project’s “main task is to create a complete platform autonomy with a gradual transition to self-management by community members.”

However, shortly after the press statement, users on Twitter began querying the Defi project’s claims of high returns in a very short space of time. Some began making the scam allegations after token holders reported problems accessing the Sharktron website.

Red Flags Ignored

According to one report, Twitter users repeatedly warned Sun about the fraudulent nature of the Sharktron project. However, the report says Sun “ignored the red flags.” The Sharktron protocol is listed on another Sun creation, the Justswap decentralized exchange (DEXs).

In addition, the report states that despite the mounting concerns and complaints, the Justswap platform still gave its seal of approval to the Sharktron project by whitelisting it.

Meanwhile, some Twitter users reacted to the Tron Foundation’s tweet by asking for a fair reimbursement process. A Twitter user named Brindan SC writes:

I lose 357500 TRX …Please allocate frozen funds to all investors as a percentage of their investment..

In October, the Tron Foundation announced it will be reimbursing TRX holders that cannot access their tokens on the Okex crypto exchange. It remains to be seen if the foundation is going to repeat the same compensation plan following the Sharktron exit scam.

In the meantime, other Twitter users believe that Sun and his Tron Foundation may be complicit in this scam just as he has been accused of with other scams.

What should be the formula when reimbursing recovered stolen funds? Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

The post Sharktron Defi Project Devs Exit Scam: Tron Foundation Says Part of Missing Funds Now Frozen appeared first on Bitcoin News.

P2P Trading Resumes on Okex While Withdrawals Freeze Still in Effect: Tron Foundation Announces Cashout Plan for TRX Holders

22/10/2020 by Idelto Editor

Asian cryptocurrency exchange Okex says peer to peer trading is now open but the freeze on withdrawals remains in effect. In an update, Okex CEO Jay Hao reveals that buying cryptocurrency via the fiat gateway is now active as well but he fails to give a timeframe for the resumption of withdrawals. In an earlier tweet, the CEO reassures customers that their funds are safe and that withdrawals will commence as soon as possible.

On Oct. 15, Okex announced the suspension of withdrawals of cryptocurrency after an unnamed private key holder was taken into custody by law enforcement. However, since the suspension of cashouts, reports have emerged alleging large BTC withdrawals just before the announcement of the freeze.

The Okex CEO has, however, issued statements dismissing such reports. Still, anxious Okex customers are expressing dissatisfaction with the exchange’s failure to disclose details about the progress of the ongoing investigation.

On Twitter, users are venting their anger as they question the wisdom of the latest announcement that peer to peer trading is now open. One user named Maciek_sk queries the rationale of asking clients to continue trading when there is no option to cash out. In his reply to Hao’s tweet, the user explains:

There is no point in being active on the stock market from which you cannot withdraw your funds. It makes no sense. I am afraid it will lead to withdrawal from this platform.

Similarly, another user not only asks the same question but he also takes issue with the exchange’s management of private keys. He asks:

What’s the point of trading when we can’t even withdraw? and how the heck can one person result in Okex suspending withdrawals?

“Are you guys sh****g us or what? If you can’t even guarantee the security of funds and continued service why even bother running an exchange?” the user continued.

Meanwhile, in a surprising move, Justin Sun’s Tron Foundation announced it will be enabling TRX holders with funds frozen on the exchange to cash out their tokens via a specially designated account.

It is not clear what prompted the move by the Tron Foundation although a statement on the organization’s Medium page says they “have decided to shoulder their major responsibility in the industry and give users access to the unlimited 1:1 withdrawal of TRX on Okex. This decision will take effect as soon as it is announced.”

According to the Tron Foundation, this campaign “intends to help TRX holders protect their assets.”

What do you think of Okex’s management of private keys? Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

The post P2P Trading Resumes on Okex While Withdrawals Freeze Still in Effect: Tron Foundation Announces Cashout Plan for TRX Holders appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Filecoin Founder Accuses Justin Sun of Spreading Lies About FIL Tokens as Fresh Dumping Allegations Emerge

21/10/2020 by Idelto Editor

Juan Benet, a founder at Filecoin, is attacking Justin Sun for spreading completely false accusations about the movement of the FIL tokens soon after listing. In his long Twitter rebuff, Benet accuses Sun of spreading lies with the intention of harming the Filecoin project financially. Calling the accusations ridiculous, Benet says no one from the Filecoin team sold the FIL token on the day of listing.

Soon after the FIL token went live on many exchanges, Sun unexpectedly tweeted alleging that Benet and others at Filecoin had exit scammed. This follows reports the Filecoin team had dumped 1.5 million tokens on some exchanges. Sun alleged that the community had not been informed about the transfer of tokens to exchanges. He went on to encourage the United States-based FIL token buyers to report the matter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Sun Filecoin Hard Fork Theory

However, in a long Twitter thread in which he also responds to the other allegations against Filecoin, Benet speculates the motives behind Sun’s attack on the FIL token as he writes:

My guess is that Justin plans to fork Filecoin as well, and hopes to trump up a reason. Sorry, Justin, you’re nobody’s saviour.

Benet, who uses an expletive to dismiss Sun’s allegations, reminds his followers about his controversial takeover of Hive.

In March, reports emerged that some prominent community leaders of Steem, possibly dissatisfied with Sun’s hostile takeover, were hatching a plan to hard fork. Eventually, the hard fork occurred leaving Sun without access to the developer’s reward.

Meanwhile, continuing his attacks on Sun, Benet warns Filecoin miners against supporting any such hard fork saying:

Look at the history of projects associated with Tron, and confirm you want that. [And] you may become the victim of a huge pump and dump scam. Good Luck.

Benet, however, admits that there are questions about some of the “unvested FIL sent to some exchanges.” Still, he insists that these “were not sales of FIL from PL or any team members.” Benet explains the elaborate steps taken by the Filecoin team to stabilize the token “in the early days after launch when prices are at risk of being volatile.”

The FIL token, which had opened at $200 on some exchanges, lost more than half of its value in the first 24 hours. At the time of writing, the token had lost further ground and was trading at $30.

New Dumping Allegations

However, as Benet insisted that no token dumping had occurred, fresh reports emerged suggesting that even more FIL Testnet tokens were moved to exchanges and sold. Explaining the events as they occurred, one Twitter user, Crypto Chris G says:

“Basically miners dumped their testnet coins crashing the price then complained they should change the locking schedule since more supply was on market. Filecoin had to accept the miners’ proposals & 25% immediately unlocked. How did testnet coins become real? Was there a code bug?”

In the long thread, Crypto Chris G explains why he thinks miners are not as innocent as they have been portrayed. The user concludes his analysis by stating that “miners aren’t victims of the Filecoin team releasing coins early.” Instead, he says “they played this great, pulled huge profit from testnet coin selling for real $ then crying wolf to gain more.”

Soon after listing, Filecoin miners went on strike alleging the ineffectiveness of the economic model used. However, in his own thread, Benet dismisses the reports while claiming that miners are “following protocol and making a ton of money doing so.”

However, in comments that appear to corroborate Crypto Chris G’s account, Benet says:

“There are many people hoping to get rich quick with Filecoin without contributing value to the network — that’s just not how it works. This isn’t what the protocol rewards.”

What are your thoughts about the FIL token issuance? Share your views in the comments section below.

The post Filecoin Founder Accuses Justin Sun of Spreading Lies About FIL Tokens as Fresh Dumping Allegations Emerge appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Bitgo Plans to Launch Wrapped Bitcoin on the Tron Blockchain

26/09/2020 by Idelto Editor

Soon there will be another network that allows people to tokenize BTC in order to leverage the underlying blockchain’s speed and fees. On September 24, Bitgo, the custodian of the Wrapped Bitcoin project (WBTC), the most popular tokenized BTC platform to-date, announced a partnership with Tron.

Members of the crypto ecosystem will soon be able to leverage WBTC via the Tron (TRX) network. Just like the tokenized BTC created using Ethereum’s ERC20 token standard, the Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) team will utilize the TRC20 token standard from Tron’s infrastructure. Similarly, all the BTC deposited is backed by the Bitgo Trust, and each WBTC minted on Tron will be worth the same price as one BTC.

“We are excited to expand Tron’s defi potential by partnering with the industry leader Bitgo to bring integral cross-chain solutions such as Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) and Wrapped Ether to Tron,” said Justin Sun, founder of the Tron project and CEO of Bittorrent.

Sun also mentioned that users can utilize a decentralized exchange (dex) that is similar to Uniswap called Justswap. “[Justswap] has achieved $100 million 24-hour volumes since its start and represents Tron’s strong and growing defi ecosystem,” Sun claimed.

WBTC has been an integral part of the decentralized finance (defi) space, and the project commands the most tokenized BTC so far. Between projects like RSK, Liquid, and ETH-based BTC derivatives like WBTC, renBTC, hBTC, sBTC, imBTC, pBTC, tBTC, tzBTC, btc2, and the latest addition on Tron there are over twelve tokenized BTC projects people can choose from today.

The trustless tokenized BTC project called tBTC just recently re-launched and there’s now 83 tBTC ($885k) in circulation on Friday afternoon. Additionally, the Polkadot ecosystem will also see a tokenized BTC project with polkaBTC. Compared to all the tokenized BTC platforms, WBTC eclipses them all with 73% of the supply or 83,983 tokenized BTC assets according to stats from Dune Analytics.

Similarly to when Tether migrated a great majority of USDT to the Ethereum network, the WBTC team says speed and lower fees was one of the reasons to partition some WBTC over to Tron. “Since launching WBTC in 2019, Bitgo has seen tremendous growth on Ethereum coupled with the remarkable rise of defi activity,” said Mike Belshe, CEO, Bitgo.

“Our new strategic alliance with Tron creates even greater opportunities for users to expand to other chains and tokenize their BTC on the Tron dapp ecosystem, while transacting at a lower cost and faster speed,” Belshe added.

What do you think about Bitgo leveraging both Ethereum and Tron to issue WBTC? Let us know in the comments section below.

The post Bitgo Plans to Launch Wrapped Bitcoin on the Tron Blockchain appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Free from Tron: Steemit’s Blockchain Fork Hive Outperforms Steem Token Value

29/03/2020 by Idelto Editor

For weeks now, the cryptocurrency community has been fervently discussing the recent acquisition of the Steemit blockchain. Skeptics believe that the Tron takeover has shown significant vulnerabilities with delegated-proof-of-stake (DPoS) projects. Following the takeover, the community still managed to fork the protocol and the new hard-forked blockchain dubbed ‘Hive’ has seen its token price outperform the value of Steem tokens.

Also read: In-Between Bitcoin Halvings: Analyst Proves Bitcoin’s Price Not Bound to 4-Year Cycles

A slew of Steemit proponents believe the Steemit protocol was rescued from centralization and Justin Sun’s Tron project. On March 3, news.Bitcoin.com reported on how the first community-led fork had failed because a few exchanges used large swathes of DPoS tokens in order to stop the attempt. Then on March 20, community members forked the Steemit protocol and relaunched under the name ‘Hive’ using its own blockchain. Although after the fork took place, Hive’s project leaders had issues with moving steem tokens into the Hive chain. Further, the team discussed blacklisting certain Tron proponents who have a significant stake in the project. Today, hive tokens (HIVE) are trading for $0.21 per coin and steem tokens (STEEM) are selling for $0.17 per unit.

Steem trade volume, however, reported by exchanges has been around $2.3 million during the last 24 hours. Hive volume is considerably lower at the time of publication, with only $53K worth of 24-hour swaps. Despite the fork last week, the Tron-backed Steemit project hopes to convince users to come back to the Steemit project. Additionally, Steemit operators also admitted to censoring Steemit-based articles that discuss the Hive project. Essentially, the Tron-owned Steemit project leaders told the community that if they are divided, the project’s original goals will fail. The blog post states:

We listened to the Steem community, and we always will. While we do not agree, nor obviously support the recent hard fork, we continue to find ways to show our commitment to developing our Steem ecosystem with the support of our great community. We love Steem and we are always supporting a united community since we believe that united we stand, divided we fall.

When Steemit’s new owners confessed to censoring posts they said: “Would any commercial website support a post that encourages all users to migrate to another one? No. That would not be in the best interest of the community and the Steem ecosystem.” Meanwhile, the Hive blockchain community is positive about the new project and the lessons learned. “Hive is unique in that it’s a social blockchain. Bonds have been built over the years. Lives have been changed, saved and improved. Lessons have been learned,” one Hive supporter wrote on Twitter. “Open source so your contributions are immutable — Hive is an idea and no amount of money, government or corporations can kill it,” he added.

While speaking of the situation on social media about Steemit’s new project leaders censoring posts and the centralization issues, another Hive supporter tweeted: “Woah, this is scary. Over 4,500 posts and comments, just gone. What’s supposed to be a decentralized social network, has become dangerously centralized. They’re still on Steem, but [they are] censoring me just because I was heavily involved in Hive?”

What do you think about the hive token outperforming steem tokens? Let us know in the comments below.

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