On April 5, 2025, in the night of Victoria Harbor, the BUIDL 2025 Web3 Industry Summit was being held. Amid the clinking of glasses, a group photo quickly swept the screen: Huobi founder Li Lin, Binance founder CZ, and TRON founder Justin Sun were in the C position, toasting to celebrate with bright smiles, surrounded by other crypto industry leaders.
Another more eye-catching photo was circulated at the conference - Sun Yuchen and Li Lin hugged and drank cup-to-cup wine. Two months ago, Sun Yuchen publicly criticized Li Lin for concealing Huobis financial loopholes. The two of them were tit-for-tat and refused to give in. Could it be that after only two months, the two of them put aside the past and reconciled?
The two photos seem to be a microcosm of the golden age of the crypto industry - there are undercurrents of grievances and entanglements, as well as a symbiotic picture of intertwined interests. Their appearance together is not only a subtle reflection of their personal relationship, but also a testimony to the crypto industrys transition from grassroots to compliance. Below, the editor will take you to see the love, hate and hatred between the industry leaders.
Li Lin and Sun Yuchen: Debt disputes are tangled and confusing
Li Lin and Sun Yuchen had a big dispute over the acquisition of Huobi, which is well known in the circle. The origin of the matter can be traced back to October 8, 2022, when Huobi founder Li Lin sold Huobi shares to Hong Kong Baiyu Capital associated with Sun Yuchen. Three years after the completion of the transaction, in February 2025, Sun Yuchen suddenly publicly accused Li Lin of concealing due diligence materials, saying that there was a financial hole of 30 million US dollars in Huobi, which he had to fill out of his own pocket.
Li Lin responded in a long article saying that at the time of the 2022 settlement, the two parties had differences in the method of calculating user assets and had reserved sufficient reserves; the 30 million US dollar funding hole mentioned by Justin Sun was actually a short position caused by extreme market conditions when the exchange operated the margin trading business, and the financial processing had been completed by the companys revenue, so it should not be regarded as an undisclosed financial loophole.
In fact, this is not the first time the two have clashed. The feud between Sun and Li began shortly after Huobi was sold.
In May 2023, Justin Sun wrote a post accusing Li Lin’s brother Li Wei of repeatedly obtaining a large amount of zero-cost HT through improper means and selling it, and said that in order to protect the rights and interests of the HT community, these tokens must be recovered and destroyed. Subsequently, Huobi founder Li Lin responded in WeChat Moments, saying that he hoped the other party would provide evidence. If it is confirmed that Li Wei obtained zero-cost HT through illegal means, he is willing to pay 10 times the HT to Huobi in his personal name; if it is not true, he hopes Huobi will return the legal assets of users.
Sun Yuchen did not provide any conclusive evidence, and the accusatory tweet was deleted. Although it triggered widespread doubts about Huobi’s internal management, the revelation was eventually left unresolved. However, the grudge between Li Lin and Sun Yuchen did not end. In February 2025, due to a $30 million “financial hole”, the two cryptocurrency giants once again launched a public opinion war on the Internet.
The photo of Justin Sun and Li Lin hugging and drinking cup of wine at the conference has led to more speculation about their relationship. In the photo, the two are talking and laughing, behaving intimately, like old friends who havent seen each other for a long time, and it doesnt look like they had a financial dispute of 30 million US dollars two months ago. This may be a play by the big guys in the cryptocurrency circle in public, or it may be a private reconciliation. The love-hate relationship between Sun and Lin remains a mystery.
But speaking of wedding wine, this is not the first time that Li Lin has had wedding wine with other cryptocurrency bigwigs. As early as 2018, Li Lin and Xu Mingxing, the boss of OKEx (the predecessor of OKX), had a shirtless barbecue and drank wine on the roadside, and drank wedding wine at a dinner party. When OKEx was unable to withdraw coins, Xu Mingxing was invited to have tea, and it was Li Lin who strongly supported Xu Mingxing in the community. Although there was some drama, it did express that in an era when the cryptocurrency circle is in its infancy, full of opportunities and risks, entrepreneurs appreciate each other and look forward to jointly making the cryptocurrency circle better and stronger. Later, Xu Mingxing shouted to Li Lin: After drinking the wedding wine, we are true brothers. Thank you Mr. Li Lin of Huobi for stepping up and healing my pain.
CZ and Justin Sun: Enemies and Friends, Love and Hate Each Other
Justin Sun and CZ are both regarded as leaders in the crypto space. TRON, founded by Justin Sun, and HTX, the Huobi platform he leads, form an ecologically complementary and competitive relationship with Binance, founded by CZ. The two have also appeared on the cover of Forbes magazine, demonstrating their global influence. As industry pioneers, the journey between the two is also a history of the development of the crypto industry.
As early as 2015, He Yi, Justin Sun, and Qudian CEO Luo Min appeared on the reality show You Are the One. They wore jumpsuits with goat horns and white hats and performed a song called The Twisted Goat Song. At that time, He Yi and CZ had just known each other for a year and worked together at OKcoin as vice president and CTO respectively. The gears of fate turned quietly. These young people who were still immersed in the excitement of entering a new industry might hardly have thought that the future of the crypto industry would be subverted by them.
The early cryptocurrency world was full of infinite possibilities and imagination, and Justin Sun and CZ were in a stage of mutual cooperation and mutual achievement.
In October 2018, Justin Sun and CZ met at the World Investment Forum in Geneva. At the time, the United Nations celebrated its 73rd anniversary. Binance established the Blockchain Charity Foundation and launched a blockchain-based donation platform to support countries affected by floods and landslides such as Uganda. The Tron Foundation also donated $3 million to support blockchain philanthropy.
2019 was the honeymoon period for Justin Sun and CZ. On January 28, BitTorrent (BTT), a project previously acquired by Justin Sun, completed the issuance of 59.4 billion BTT on Binance Launchpad, a blockchain asset issuance platform of Binance, in about 14 minutes, raising 7.1 million US dollars. BitTorrent became Binances first IEO project, marking the beginning of the early cooperation between CZ and Justin Sun. After TRON launched TRC20‑USDT in April, Binance quickly supported it and launched the Top up TRC20‑USDT and enjoy 16% annualized return campaign, introducing a large amount of liquidity to the TRON ecosystem; at the same time, Justin Sun also frequently stood up for Binance on Weibo and Twitter, vigorously promoting the results of this cooperation. During that period, the cooperation between the two was exemplary - Justin Sun used the influence of the Binance platform to promote the TRON ecosystem, while Binance used TRONs new chain and high-interest subsidies to attract more USDT users, and both parties achieved a win-win situation.
In September 2019, Binance and Paxos Trust Company jointly launched the stablecoin Binance USD (BUSD). In less than two years, the market value of BUSD quickly exceeded 1 billion US dollars. On September 5, 2022, shortly after the market value of BUSD reached 20 billion US dollars, Binance announced that it would stop using USDC, USDP and TUSD, three stablecoins that compete with BUSD, and officially declared war on the stablecoin giant USDC.
The smooth issuance and great success of BUSD has enabled CZ to build his own crypto empire step by step with the advantages of the platform. Only one month after Binance announced the exchange plan, on October 28, 2022, Huobi Global, which had just been taken over by Justin Sun for 20 days, issued an announcement that HUSD triggered Article (XI) of Huobi Globals Token Management Rules, and that HUSD trading would be stopped and delisted on the same day, and HUSD in user accounts would be directly exchanged for USDT. As soon as the news came out, the market was in an uproar, HUSD lost its peg, and its value fell rapidly, falling to US$0.3 on November 1. Since then, it has been in a slump and completely withdrew from the stablecoin competition market.
Coincidentally, HUSD is also a stablecoin project launched by Huobi in cooperation with Paxos. In the HUSD 1st anniversary blog post in July 22, the Paxos team also wrote: We are proud that Paxos now supports 3 of the top 6 stablecoins in the world. As the first regulated trust company and qualified digital asset custodian, Paxos has unique expertise in this market.
One month after the memorial blog post was published, Paxos co-founder Rich Teo and Binance CEO CZ appeared together at a high-end restaurant overseas, which caused quite a stir in the crypto community at the time. Two months later, HUSD announced its end, and Paxos became the full-time steward of BUSD. The community speculated that the dinner may have involved strategic discussions on the stablecoin market, which in turn affected Huobis decision on HUSD. However, these speculations also lacked direct evidence and were not officially confirmed.
Related reading: The four-year rise and fall of the $15 billion stablecoin empire: BUSD’s ambitions and regrets
Two months after HUSD was delisted, on December 30, 2022, Binance announced that it had completed the integration of Binance-Peg BUSD on the TRON network. BUSD deposits and withdrawals are now open on the TRON network, and Justin Sun also actively retweeted and promoted the cooperation with Binance on Twitter. Regardless of whether the two had private disagreements over the stablecoin cooperation before, at least now it seems that everything is thriving and harmonious.
But the twos game over stablecoins continues in secret.
In May 2023, Justin Sun transferred 405 million TUSD to Binance, suspected to be used to participate in the SUI token mining activity of Binance LaunchPool. This triggered a debate in the currency community, believing that it was like CZ was helping the giant whales, through the mining pool incentives of the Binance exchange, allowing Justin Sun to obtain the new token SUI through the original huge funds. The community accused such actions of suspected insider trading. As public opinion fermented, Justin Sun responded that the original purpose of the transfer was to flatten the spread as a TUSD market maker and improve liquidity, not to participate in the event, and that the exchange had been contacted for a refund for some of the funds that participated in the event due to mistakes. Subsequently, CZ also publicly stated that if Justin Sun used these TUSD to participate in mining, action would be taken against him, and emphasized that LaunchPool serves retail users rather than whales. A farce of $405 million also came to an end in the disclaimers of the bosses of both parties.
It is worth noting that TUSD is the successor token of BUSD. On February 13, 2023, the US SEC law enforcement officers issued a Wells Notice to Paxos, stating that the BUSD issued and listed by Paxos is an unregistered security and plans to sue Paxos for violating the Investor Protection Act. Under strong regulatory intervention, Binance continued to remove BUSD trading pairs, and BUSD, which once had a market value of up to 22 billion US dollars, gradually withdrew from the stage of history. After that, Binance turned its attention to another stablecoin-TUSD. Binance took a series of measures to add TUSD trading pairs, Launchpool opened TUSD Pool, and BTC/TUSD trading pairs were free of handling fees. The strong support made the BTC/TUSD trading pair surpass the BTC/USDT trading pair in March 2023 and become the largest trading pair on Binance. After the suspension of BUSD, Binances support for other stablecoins such as TUSD and USDC also put Sun Yuchens TRC-USDT under new pressure.
Related reading: TUSD, its time to get to know this new Binance upstart again
On April 3, 2025, Justin Sun suddenly published a statement accusing First Digital Trust (FDT) of being insolvent and unable to redeem customer funds. FDT is the issuer of the stablecoin FDUSD and the asset manager of TUSD. In the afternoon of the same day, Justin Sun said in a live press conference that as early as 2023, Techteryx launched an investigation into FDT and found that a large amount of custodial customer funds had been misappropriated. At that time, Justin Sun provided assistance to Techteryx with his own funds to ensure that TUSD had sufficient liquidity, and TrueCoin was suspected of conspiring with FDT to illegally transfer $456 million in TUSD reserves to a Dubai company. First Digital subsequently responded to the accusation: the dispute only involves TUSD and has nothing to do with FDUSD, and First Digital has full solvency.
There is no doubt that this move and the subsequent behavior of Binance suspected of notifying large investors only in a small group and cutting retail investors have put CZ and He Yi into another emergency public relations crisis, triggering market dissatisfaction with centralized exchanges. Sun Yuchens role in this storm is much more glorious, exposing capital insider trading and safeguarding the rights and interests of all investors. Perhaps Sun Yuchens original intention was just to get back his 500 million yuan deposit, and this matter had no direct connection with Binance, but when FDUSD was temporarily decoupled, Binance, which was at the center of the storm, was still involved in the public opinion war.
Although the two compete in business, Sun Yuchen has spoken for CZ many times in public events in the cryptocurrency circle. After the SEC sued Binance in June 2023, Sun Yuchen publicly expressed his support for CZ on social media, saying, As a friend of CZ, I am willing to unwaveringly support CZ and believe that justice will be served. In November 2023, CZ announced his resignation as CEO of Binance. Sun Yuchen highly praised CZs contribution on social media, mentioning that he had known CZ for nearly ten years, affirmed his leadership and industry driving force, saying that he pushed the industry to unprecedented heights, and emphasized that he would continue to strengthen cooperation with Binance in the future.
When the photo of Li Lin and Sun Yuchen drinking wine together was all over social media, and when CZ and Sun Yuchen were chatting and laughing at the summit, it was hard for onlookers to tell whether it was a show or a sincere reconciliation. But perhaps the answer is not important - in the crypto industry, consensus of interests is far more cohesive than personal grudges. From the early days of the grassroots to the current wave of compliance, the history of these bigwigs game is the footnote of the evolution of the industry. Their grudges and cooperation are essentially exploring a path that is in line with the regulatory framework without losing the original intention of blockchain.
As Sun Yuchen said in an interview with Forbes: True innovators must adhere to long-termism. When the smile in the group photo was frozen, the night of Hong Kong was still bright, and the script of the crypto industry was still being written - the next scene might be more intense competition, or a reunion in the crisis. The only certainty is that the charm of this industry lies in these enemy and friend stories.
