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"King of Hype" - Foreign media reports on BitTorrent acquisition scandal: A company full of hype and lies

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"King of Hype" - Foreign media reports on BitTorrent acquisition scandal: A company full of hype and lies

The renowned international media "The Verge" has recently released a rare blockchain feature titled "Hype man of the century," focusing on the dark secrets behind TRON founder Justin Sun's acquisition of BitTorrent. After the news was shared on Twitter, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin retweeted the news, while Justin Sun vehemently denied all accusations mentioned in the news on Twitter.

June 2018: Acquisition of BitTorrent for $140 Million

Although the main focus of the article is on exposing the acquisition scandal of BitTorrent, it also mentions many dark histories of Justin Sun. It starts with the peer-to-peer file sharing protocol BitTorrent. The company was founded in 2004 when online video platforms like YouTube, Netflix, and iQiyi were not yet popular. Therefore, BitTorrent, known for its ability to quickly download large video and file sizes, was once very popular.

However, with the development of smartphones and the internet, BitTorrent faced difficulties in 2018. In June of that year, it was announced that BitTorrent was acquired by TRON, followed by a series of dark histories of Justin Sun exposed by several anonymous former employees.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CCDu3LipjXh/?utm_source=ig_embed

Targeting Ethereum

As a controversial figure, Justin Sun immediately fired several BitTorrent employees upon taking over, with the whistleblowing employees revealing through TRON employees that due to TRON heavily borrowing from public chains including Ethereum, the cryptocurrency industry was filled with accusations of plagiarism against TRON. New employees would quickly understand TRON's strategic model within a few months:

  • Copy Ethereum
  • Hype TRON token TRX
  • Focus on community engagement (increasing the willingness of users in various countries to buy TRX)

Fraudulent Tesla Giveaway

In March 2019, TRON held a highly publicized Tesla giveaway. During the live draw, a Twitter user named @uzgaroth was initially chosen as the winner, but Justin Sun claimed that there was an error in the draw process and subsequently re-drew the winner as Twitter user @LeoHuynhPro.

Justin Sun's subjective operations, seemingly deliberate selection of TRON enthusiasts, and the premature appearance of the winner in the video, all drew widespread criticism from the cryptocurrency community. Under immense public pressure, Justin Sun eventually announced that both initial and subsequent winners would receive a Tesla car.

Buffett Charity Lunch

Following the setback in the Tesla giveaway promotion, whistleblowing employees claimed that Justin Sun became increasingly temperamental, often yelling and kicking doors in the office. He then seized a more high-profile opportunity: winning the highest bid for the charity lunch auction with Warren Buffett. Justin Sun won the charity lunch with a bid of $4.57 million, attracting significant media coverage. However, this marketing move almost backfired due to political factors.

The lunch, originally scheduled for July 25, 2019, was postponed after Justin Sun claimed to have kidney stones. Subsequently, Chinese media reported that Justin Sun was detained in Beijing on charges of illegal fundraising, gambling, and money laundering. Justin Sun refuted these claims on Twitter with a live stream backgrounded by the San Francisco Bay Bridge. However, employees pointed out that the reality was different:

Chinese authorities had been in contact with Justin Sun, telling him, "You cannot have this lunch because Buffett represents the pig of capitalism."

Following a tweet criticizing Bitcoin and Facebook's Libra project by Donald Trump, Justin Sun replied and invited Trump to lunch. This prompted immediate intervention by Chinese authorities. They raided TRON's Beijing office, detained six employees, including Justin Sun's father, and extensively publicized information portraying Justin Sun as a fraud. Nevertheless, Justin Sun eventually had dinner with Buffett in February of this year.

Violent Pressure on Engineer Cong Li

As TRON shifted its development focus to the decentralized video platform BT Movie, the development process was filled with incidents of violent threats towards employees, leading to one victimized employee resorting to legal action and exposing the entire event.

Former TRON engineer Lukasz Juraszek claimed that Cong Li, the head of the technical department, had been subjected to violent treatment in Justin Sun's office during the development process, with reports of roaring, physical assaults, and slaps. The reason for enduring all this was the work visa. Both Lukasz Juraszek and Cong Li held American work visas, and if they were fired, their entire families would be forced to leave the U.S.

Ultimately, Lukasz Juraszek and Richard Hall filed a civil lawsuit against Justin Sun, alleging a series of misconduct including fraud, harassment, and retaliation against whistleblowers. Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin also retweeted this news on Twitter, stating that the content was explosive.

Justin Sun emphasized on Twitter:

The false accusations by former employees hold no value. BitTorrent's legal counsel has submitted all evidence to the court, and we are currently awaiting arbitration. The court's decision will speak for itself.

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