Was Sun Yuchen accused of misappropriating 460 million stUSDT? Just a misunderstanding
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Was Sun Yuchen accused of misappropriating 460 million stUSDT? Just a misunderstanding
Stay committed to honesty, openness, and transparency, patiently resolve misunderstandings, and there will naturally be no need to fear FUD.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsIn the early hours of July 12, Beijing time, Ki Young Ju, founder and CEO of on-chain data analytics platform CryptoQuant, posted a tweet claiming that Justin Sun had opened a long Bitcoin position on Huobi HTX at $67,000 on June 9, with a position size as high as $420 million, collateralized by $460 million in stUSDT.
This immediately drew attention from the crypto community, and soon, allegations questioning whether Justin Sun had "misused user funds" began to spread. However, Ki Young Ju deleted the tweet shortly after posting it, stating he needed to "clarify some matters with the Huobi HTX team," and promised to publicly share "their insights on proof of reserves" following discussions.
On the evening of July 12, Ki Young Ju shared the results of his communication with Huobi HTX, providing a fuller picture of the incident. His initial concern stemmed from observing that the value of open BTC-USDT futures positions on Huobi HTX had increased fivefold over the past two months, reaching $515 million, while its USDT reserves remained around $24 million. This led him to suspect that stUSDT might have been used as collateral. Huobi HTX clarified that stUSDT and aEthUSDT are treated as equivalent assets on the platform. "It appears that stUSDT or aEthUSDT was indeed used as collateral for futures trading," said Ki Young Ju.
Earlier, Justin Sun had personally clarified that he did not hold any long Bitcoin positions. Regarding the increase in futures positions on Huobi HTX, Ki Young Ju concluded that "HTX clients likely opened these futures positions after gaining the ability to freely use stUSDT and aEthUSDT."
With this, the truth behind the incident became clear—the initial controversy arose merely from a misunderstanding by Ki Young Ju regarding Huobi HTX's reserve composition. Ki Young Ju has long maintained a strong reputation; as a data expert, raising questions and voicing concerns in the public domain undoubtedly promotes industry development and enhances transparency. At the same time, promptly removing contentious posts and openly sharing follow-up communications—thereby avoiding further misinterpretation and harm—demonstrates his objective, neutral stance and consistent professionalism.
In the world of crypto, user asset security is paramount—the one red line exchanges must never cross—which explains why many closely followed this incident with concern. Huobi HTX has always prioritized user asset security, placing "never touching user assets and upholding security底线" at the top of its industry initiative charter, committing to 100% redeemability. The exchange has published Merkle tree proof of reserves updates monthly, now totaling 21 disclosures, with reserve ratios consistently above 100%. In its official statement on the matter, Huobi HTX stated: "Huobi HTX does not comment on the personal financial situations of our advisors or any other individuals. Our reserves are fully protected, and customer funds are never misappropriated. AaveUSDT and stUSDT within our reserves hold equivalent value to USDT and can be converted as needed."
Thanks to proactive communication between Huobi HTX and Ki Young Ju, along with timely clarification from Justin Sun, the FUD generated by this incident should now come to an end. Community and user vigilance around security issues serves as important oversight over exchanges and industry leaders, greatly benefiting industry progress. Meanwhile, as long as exchanges and industry figures adhere to security principles while maintaining honesty, openness, and transparency—and patiently resolve misunderstandings—they need not fear FUD.
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