Sun Yunlong Exposes Nearly $500 Million in Custodial Assets Embezzlement Including FDT, Calls for Strengthened Regulation to Protect Public Interests

By: blockbeats|2025/04/03 14:30:02
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On April 3, TRON founder Justin Sun revealed a major financial fraud case involving the misappropriation of TUSD (TrueUSD) fiat reserve funds during a press conference. In this case, various financial institutions, including Hong Kong licensed trust companies First Digital Trust Limited (FDT) and Legacy Trust Company Limited (Legacy Trust), as well as a private company in Dubai, colluded to embezzle $456 million of customer funds. Sun noted that while providing funding support to all parties involved in TUSD, his attention was drawn to how this case not only endangered public interests but also exposed serious flaws in the trust industry, undermining Hong Kong's reputation as a global financial center.

According to information disclosed during the press conference, in December 2020, Techteryx acquired TUSD from TrueCoin LLC (TrueCoin). TrueCoin was retained and entrusted to select financial service providers and coordinate international operations, with the arrangement set to terminate in July 2023. During this period, TrueCoin, in its capacity as a trustee, selected FDT as the custodian of the TUSD fiat reserve assets, managing over $500 million in reserve funds. Additionally, TrueCoin recommended the Aria Commodity Finance Fund (the "Cayman Fund") to Techteryx as a primary investment.

In subsequent transactions, TrueCoin was suspected of colluding with FDT and other institutions to transfer $456 million of TUSD fiat reserve funds to a private company in Dubai fully owned by the wife of a former investment manager of the aforementioned Cayman Fund through false documents and unauthorized transfers. FDT and Legacy Trust CEO and Director Vincent Chok directly approved these illicit transactions, grossly violating their fiduciary duties.

In 2023, due to FDT's failure to pay interest on certain investments made on behalf of Techteryx, Techteryx appointed an independent professional team to conduct a comprehensive investigation into FDT. The team discovered a substantial misappropriation of client funds under custody and sought support from Justin Sun. Sun personally provided support to Techteryx with his own funds to ensure that TUSD had sufficient liquidity, safeguarding the interests of all TUSD holders.

It is reported that as early as September 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a public statement accusing TrueCoin of participating in fraudulent activities involving TUSD. These fraudulent activities occurred after Techteryx's acquisition and while TrueCoin still operated as the operator of TUSD. The SEC believes that "TrueCoin profited from misrepresentations of investment security while exposing investors to significant undisclosed risks."

Justin Sun stated, "These assets are public funds. To protect the public interest and maintain Hong Kong's reputation as an international financial center, I have decided to provide liquidity support. I am shocked by the scale of this fraud and feel a deep sense of responsibility."

Justin Sun called on Hong Kong regulators to take decisive actions to plug the loopholes and prevent further losses of public funds. His decision to publicly address this issue and expose the fraudulent behavior is aimed at seeing all scammers held accountable to the fullest extent of the law. "They should never again have the opportunity to defraud the public in Hong Kong or elsewhere under the guise of licensed institutions."

In this case, the fact that licensed institutions like FDT could freely misappropriate public funds indicates that there are still regulatory deficiencies. The intricate trans-jurisdictional crime network highlights the necessity of global collaboration to combat financial fraud. Justin Sun stated, "As a member of the industry, I choose to reveal the truth and assist TUSD to protect the public and promote the healthy development of the industry. Fraudsters must face severe legal consequences."

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Mixin has launched USTD-margined perpetual contracts, bringing derivative trading into the chat scene.

The privacy-focused crypto wallet Mixin announced today the launch of its U-based perpetual contract (a derivative priced in USDT). Unlike traditional exchanges, Mixin has taken a new approach by "liberating" derivative trading from isolated matching engines and embedding it into the instant messaging environment.


Users can directly open positions within the app with leverage of up to 200x, while sharing positions, discussing strategies, and copy trading within private communities. Trading, social interaction, and asset management are integrated into the same interface.


Simplified Trading Experience: No KYC Required, Opening a Position in Five Steps


Based on its non-custodial architecture, Mixin has eliminated friction from the traditional onboarding process, allowing users to participate in perpetual contract trading without identity verification.


The trading process has been streamlined into five steps:

· Choose the trading asset

· Select long or short

· Input position size and leverage

· Confirm order details

· Confirm and open the position


The interface provides real-time visualization of price, position, and profit and loss (PnL), allowing users to complete trades without switching between multiple modules.


Social-Native Trading: Strategy and Execution Completed in the Same Context


Mixin has directly integrated social features into the derivative trading environment. Users can create private trading communities and interact around real-time positions:

· End-to-end encrypted private groups supporting up to 1024 members

· End-to-end encrypted voice communication

· One-click position sharing

· One-click trade copying


On the execution side, Mixin aggregates liquidity from multiple sources and accesses decentralized protocol and external market liquidity through a unified trading interface.


By combining social interaction with trade execution, Mixin enables users to collaborate, share, and execute trading strategies instantly within the same environment.


Referral Mechanism: Non-institutional users can receive up to 60% fee split


Mixin has also introduced a referral incentive system based on trading behavior:

· Users can join with an invite code

· Up to 60% of trading fees as referral rewards

· Incentive mechanism designed for long-term, sustainable earnings


This model aims to drive user-driven network expansion and organic growth.


Self-Custody Architecture and Built-in Privacy Mechanism


Mixin's derivative transactions are built on top of its existing self-custody wallet infrastructure, with core features including:


· Separation of transaction account and asset storage

· User full control over assets

· Platform does not custody user funds

· Built-in privacy mechanisms to reduce data exposure


The system aims to strike a balance between transaction efficiency, asset security, and privacy protection.


A New Path for On-Chain Derivatives


Against the background of perpetual contracts becoming a mainstream trading tool, Mixin is exploring a different development direction by lowering barriers, enhancing social and privacy attributes.


The platform does not only view transactions as execution actions but positions them as a networked activity: transactions have social attributes, strategies can be shared, and relationships between individuals also become part of the financial system.


Regulatory Background


Mixin's design is based on a user-initiated, user-controlled model. The platform neither custodies assets nor executes transactions on behalf of users.


This model aligns with a statement issued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on April 13, 2026, titled "Staff Statement on Whether Partial User Interface Used in Preparing Cryptocurrency Securities Transactions May Require Broker-Dealer Registration."


The statement indicates that, under the premise where transactions are entirely initiated and controlled by users, non-custodial service providers that offer neutral interfaces may not need to register as broker-dealers or exchanges.


About Mixin


Mixin is a decentralized, self-custodial privacy wallet designed to provide secure and efficient digital asset management services.


Its core capabilities include:

· Aggregation: integrating multi-chain assets and routing between different transaction paths to simplify user operations

· High liquidity access: connecting to various liquidity sources, including decentralized protocols and external markets

· Decentralization: achieving full user control over assets without relying on custodial intermediaries

· Privacy protection: safeguarding assets and data through MPC, CryptoNote, and end-to-end encrypted communication


Mixin has been in operation for over 8 years, supporting over 40 blockchains and more than 10,000 assets, with a global user base exceeding 10 million and an on-chain self-custodied asset scale of over $1 billion.


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