Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, has reportedly turned down an offer from Tron blockchain founder Justin Sun to acquire his ownership stake in rival exchange Huobi.
The reason cited for the rejection is the rumors surrounding Huobi’s ties to mainland China. Binance has made it clear that it wants to distance itself from any affiliation with China, which is why it wants nothing to do with Huobi.
In an interview last month, Sun revealed that Huobi wants to attain a license in Hong Kong and launch a new exchange there called Huobi Hong Kong.
However, the rumors about Huobi’s connections to mainland China seem to have been enough to turn off Binance. A person familiar with the matter said that Binance wasn’t interested in acquiring Huobi because of these rumors.
Sun’s relationship with Huobi has been clouded in secrecy. Last year, a company called About Capital purchased Huobi. While Sun’s representatives denied any involvement with About, Huobi confirmed in January that he is a leader of the company. However, last week, following a Bloomberg report that Sun was trying to sell his Huobi stake, he compared such speculation to an April Fool’s joke.
The person familiar with the matter also revealed that Binance had been led to believe that Sun owns a majority stake in Huobi.
Sun’s overture was made directly to Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao in the last week or so, according to the same source. However, after the news of Binance’s rejection of Sun’s offer broke out, he took to Twitter to deny making any such offer.
“I must point out that in the past week or so, I have not proposed any offer to [CZ] regarding the purchase of Huobi, nor have we even discussed Huobi in the past week or so,” Sun tweeted.
It’s unclear what this means for the future of Huobi, but it’s evident that Binance is not interested in acquiring the rival exchange. Binance has made it clear that it wants to distance itself from any affiliation with China, and the rumors about Huobi’s ties to the country seem to have been enough to keep Binance away.
The rejection of Sun’s offer also seems to indicate that Binance is looking to maintain its position as the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. Binance’s decision not to acquire Huobi’s stake shows that it wants to remain independent and not take on any additional baggage.
The news of Binance’s rejection of Sun’s offer has also had an impact on the price of Tron’s TRX token, which fell to its lowest price of the past 24 hours after the story broke. However, it remains to be seen whether this is a temporary dip or a sign of more significant problems for Tron.
Binance, Huobi & Justin Sun
In conclusion, Binance has reportedly declined an offer from Justin Sun to acquire his ownership stake in Huobi due to concerns over Huobi’s ties to mainland China. Despite Sun’s denial of making any such offer, Binance has made it clear that it wants to distance itself from any affiliation with China and maintain its position as the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.
The rejection of Sun’s offer may have an impact on the future of Huobi and Tron’s TRX token, but it’s uncertain whether this is a temporary dip or a sign of more significant problems for Tron.