Binance to cease support for Justin Sun’s Tron in April
Binance will discontinue support for USDC deposits and withdrawals on the Tron blockchain effective April 5. The change, set to occur at 2:00 a.m. UTC, is detailed in a recent official blog post by the world’s largest digital asset ecosystem.
The discontinuation is exclusive to the Tron blockchain’s version of USDC, a dollar-pegged stablecoin, and will not affect USDC transactions on other networks, such as Ethereum. Accordingly, USDC trading on Binance remains unchanged and users can still trade stablecoin on the platform.
This move follows an announcement by Circle, the company behind the widely-used USD Coin (USDC), which stated it had ceased USDC minting services on the Tron blockchain over a month ago. Despite Tron’s diminishing role as a platform for USDC, it continues to host a significant portion of USDT supply.
While Binance didn’t specify the reasons behind its decision to cut ties with Tron, it mentioned that such moves are part of a routine evaluation of blockchain networks to align with its risk management framework. This decision was described as the culmination of a detailed review by various departments, including business, compliance, and more.
Interestingly, Circle’s announcement came at a time when the company plans to public in the U.S., boasting a nearly $28 billion market capitalization for USDC, trailing only behind Tether (USDT) in the stablecoin market. This strategic shift away from Tron follows previous clarifications from Circle in November 2023, refuting claims of service provisions to Tron’s founder, Justin Sun, amid ethical concerns raised by the Campaign for Accountability group. The group’s letter to U.S. Senators highlighted Tron’s alleged connections to organized crime and sanctioned entities.
In a detailed letter addressed to U.S. Senators Sherrod Brown and Elizabeth Warren, Circle’s Chief Strategy Officer, Dante Disparte, responded to claims made by the Campaign for Accountability. The watchdog group had suggested in a letter to the senators that Circle, along with TRON founder Justin Sun and the US-based stablecoin issuer, might be involved in financing terrorist organizations.
Addressing the allegations about facilitating terror financing, Circle pointed out that public blockchain records showed only a minimal amount of Circle’s USD Coin (USDC), $160, was transferred between wallets linked to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, as per the asset seizure by Israeli authorities in July. Moreover, he clarified that none of these funds originated from Circle.
Adding to Tron’s challenges, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit against Sun and the Tron Foundation in March 2023, accusing them of offering unregistered securities and engaging in manipulative trading practices, which Sun has denied.
The SEC alleges that the Chinese entrepreneur and his companies conspired to distribute billions of cryptoassets and artificially inflate trade volumes in order to lure in investors. The federal agency also claims that Sun manipulated the price of BitTorrent’s BTT token.
