Author: Penny, BlockBeats
On April 5, 2025, under the night sky of Victoria Harbour, the "BUIDL 2025" Web3 industry summit was taking place. Amidst the clinking of glasses, a group photo quickly went viral: Huobi founder Li Lin, Binance founder CZ, and TRON founder Justin Sun were at the center, raising their glasses in celebration, all smiles, surrounded by other big names in the crypto industry.
Another even more eye-catching photo circulated at the conference—Justin Sun and Li Lin embraced while drinking "couple's wine." Just two months prior, Justin Sun had publicly criticized Li Lin for concealing financial loopholes at Huobi, with both parties at odds and unwilling to back down. Could it be that in just two months, they had put aside their past grievances?
The two photos seem to encapsulate the "golden age" of the crypto industry—where undercurrents of grudges and entanglements coexist with a symbiotic landscape of intertwined interests. Their shared moment is not only a subtle reflection of personal relationships but also a testament to the crypto industry's evolution from chaos to compliance. Below, the editor will take readers through the love-hate relationships among industry titans.
Li Lin and Justin Sun: A Debt Dispute That Can't Be Cut
Li Lin and Justin Sun have had significant disputes over Huobi's acquisition, well-known within the industry. The origins of the matter trace back to October 8, 2022, when Huobi founder Li Lin sold Huobi shares to Hong Kong's Baiyu Capital, associated with Justin Sun. Three years after the deal, in February 2025, Justin Sun suddenly accused Li Lin of concealing due diligence materials, claiming there was a $30 million "financial hole" within Huobi that needed to be filled from Li Lin's own pocket.
Li Lin responded with a lengthy statement, stating that during the 2022 deal, there were discrepancies in how user assets were calculated, and sufficient reserves had been set aside; the "financial hole" mentioned by Justin Sun was actually a result of margin trading losses due to extreme market conditions, which had already been accounted for in the company's revenue, and thus should not be viewed as an undisclosed "financial loophole."
In fact, this was not the first confrontation between the two; their grievances began shortly after the sale of Huobi.
In May 2023, Justin Sun accused Li Lin's brother, Li Wei, of obtaining a large amount of zero-cost HT through improper means and selling it off, stating that to protect the interests of the HT community, he would seek to reclaim and destroy these tokens. Subsequently, Huobi founder Li Lin responded on social media, expressing a desire for evidence. He stated that if it was confirmed that Li Wei had obtained the zero-cost HT through illegal means, he would personally compensate Huobi with ten times the amount of HT; if not, he hoped Huobi would return the users' legitimate assets.
Justin Sun did not provide conclusive evidence afterward, and the accusatory tweet was deleted. Although it sparked widespread questioning of Huobi's internal management, the matter ultimately fizzled out. However, the animosity between Li Lin and Justin Sun did not conclude, as in February 2025, due to the $30 million "financial hole," the two crypto moguls once again engaged in a war of words online.
The photo of Justin Sun and Li Lin embracing and drinking "couple's wine" at the conference led to speculation about their relationship. In the photo, the two appeared jovial and intimate, like long-lost friends, hardly resembling two months prior when they had a $30 million financial dispute. This could be a performance by crypto moguls in a public setting, or perhaps a sign of reconciliation behind the scenes, leaving their "love-hate" relationship a mystery.
Speaking of couple's wine, this wasn't Li Lin's first time drinking it with other crypto leaders. As early as 2018, Li Lin was seen drinking and eating skewers with OKEx (the predecessor of OKX) boss Xu Mingxing on the roadside, where they also shared couple's wine. That year, when OKEx faced withdrawal issues, Xu Mingxing was invited for a "tea" meeting, and it was Li Lin who supported him in the community. Although there were elements of theatrics, it indeed expressed the camaraderie among entrepreneurs in a burgeoning and risky crypto era, with hopes of jointly strengthening the crypto space. Later, Xu Mingxing remarked to Li Lin: "Drinking couple's wine makes us true brothers; thanks to Huobi's Li Lin for always stepping up to heal my pain."
CZ and Justin Sun: Both Enemies and Friends, Love and Kill
Justin Sun and CZ are both seen as leaders in the crypto field, with Justin Sun's TRON and Huobi HTX forming an ecosystem of both complementarity and competition with CZ's Binance. Both have graced the cover of Forbes magazine, showcasing their global influence. As pioneers in the industry, their journey together 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 "If You Are the One," dressed in goat-horned bodysuits and white hats, performing a song titled "The Twisted Goat Song." At that time, He Yi and CZ had only known each other for a year, both working at OKcoin, serving as Vice President and CTO, respectively. The wheels of fate were quietly turning, and these young individuals, still immersed in the excitement of entering a new industry, could hardly have imagined that the future of the crypto industry would be transformed by them.
The early days of the crypto space were filled with infinite possibilities and imaginations, with Justin Sun and CZ in a phase of mutual cooperation and achievement.
In October 2018, Justin Sun and CZ met at the World Investment Forum in Geneva. It was the 73rd anniversary of the United Nations, and Binance had established a blockchain charity foundation, launching a blockchain-based donation platform to support countries like Uganda affected by floods and landslides. The TRON Foundation also donated $3 million to support blockchain charity efforts.
2019 was the "honeymoon period" for Justin Sun and CZ. On January 28, the project BitTorrent (BTT), which Justin Sun had previously acquired, completed the issuance of 59.4 billion BTT on Binance's blockchain asset issuance platform, Binance Launchpad, in about 14 minutes, raising $7.1 million. BitTorrent became Binance's first IEO project, marking the beginning of early cooperation between CZ and Justin Sun. In April, after TRON launched TRC20-USDT, Binance quickly supported it by launching a "Recharge TRC20-USDT to Enjoy 16% Annual Yield" campaign, bringing significant liquidity to the TRON ecosystem; meanwhile, Justin Sun frequently promoted Binance on Weibo and Twitter, vigorously publicizing this collaborative achievement. During that time, their cooperation was exemplary—Justin Sun leveraged Binance's platform influence to promote the TRON ecosystem, while Binance attracted more USDT users through TRON's new chain and high-yield subsidies, achieving a win-win situation.
In September 2019, Binance and Paxos Trust Company collaborated to launch the stablecoin Binance USD (BUSD), which quickly surpassed a market cap of $1 billion in less than two years. On September 5, 2022, shortly after BUSD's market cap reached $20 billion, Binance announced it would stop using three competing stablecoins—USDC, USDP, and TUSD—officially declaring war on stablecoin giant USDC.
The successful issuance and tremendous success of BUSD allowed CZ to gradually build his crypto empire using the platform's advantages. Just a month after Binance announced its redemption plan, on October 28, 2022, Huobi Global, which had just been taken over by Justin Sun 20 days prior, announced that HUSD triggered Huobi Global's token management rules and would stop trading HUSD that day, implementing delisting procedures, with HUSD in user accounts directly converted to USDT. This news caused an uproar in the market, leading to HUSD losing its peg and its value rapidly declining to $0.30 by November 1, from which it never recovered, completely exiting the stablecoin competition.
Coincidentally, HUSD was also a stablecoin project launched by Huobi in collaboration with Paxos. In a blog post commemorating HUSD's first anniversary in July 2022, the Paxos team wrote: "Paxos now supports three of the top six stablecoins in the world, and we are proud of it. As the first regulated trust company and qualified digital asset custodian, Paxos has unique expertise in this market."
A month after the commemorative blog post was published, Paxos co-founder Rich Teo was seen dining with Binance CEO CZ at a high-end restaurant overseas, which stirred quite a bit of gossip in the crypto circle. Two months later, HUSD announced its termination, and Paxos became the "full-time steward" of BUSD. The community speculated that this dinner might have involved strategic discussions regarding the stablecoin market, which subsequently influenced Huobi's decision on HUSD; however, these speculations lacked direct evidence and were not officially confirmed.
Two months after the delisting of HUSD, on December 30, 2022, Binance announced that it had completed the integration of Binance-Peg BUSD on the TRON network, with deposits and withdrawals for BUSD now open on the TRON network. Justin Sun also actively promoted the collaboration with Binance on Twitter. Regardless of whether there were previous disagreements between the two regarding stablecoin cooperation, everything now appeared to be thriving and harmonious.
However, the game between the two regarding stablecoins continued behind the scenes.
In May 2023, Justin Sun transferred 405 million TUSD to Binance, suspected to be used for participating in Binance LaunchPool's SUI token mining activity. This sparked debate within the crypto community, with accusations that CZ was helping a whale, allowing Justin Sun to acquire new SUI tokens through the mining pool incentives of Binance using his substantial funds, leading to allegations of "insider trading." As public opinion intensified, Justin Sun responded that the transfer was initially intended for TUSD market-making to "flatten the price difference" and enhance liquidity, not to participate in the activity, and that some funds mistakenly involved in the activity had been contacted for a refund. Subsequently, CZ publicly stated that if Justin Sun used these TUSD for mining, action would be taken against him, emphasizing that LaunchPool was meant for retail users, not "whales." Thus, a $405 million farce came to a close amid disclaimers from both parties.
It is worth noting that TUSD is the "successor token" to BUSD. On February 13, 2023, the SEC issued a "Wells Notice" to Paxos, stating that the BUSD issued and listed by Paxos was an unregistered security and that they planned to sue Paxos for violating investor protection laws. Under strong regulatory intervention, Binance continuously delisted BUSD trading pairs, and BUSD, which once had a market cap of $22 billion, gradually exited the historical stage. After this, Binance turned its attention to another stablecoin—TUSD. Binance implemented a series of measures to increase TUSD trading pairs, launched a TUSD Pool on Launchpool, and waived fees for the BTC/TUSD trading pair, significantly supporting TUSD, which led to the BTC/TUSD trading pair surpassing BTC/USDT in trading volume in March 2023, becoming Binance's most traded pair. After the suspension of BUSD, Binance's support for TUSD, USDC, and other stablecoins also put new pressure on Justin Sun's TRC-USDT.
On April 3, 2025, Justin Sun suddenly accused First Digital Trust (FDT) of being insolvent and unable to fulfill customer fund redemptions. FDT is the issuer of the stablecoin FDUSD and the asset management institution for TUSD. That afternoon, Justin Sun stated in a live broadcast that as early as 2023, Techteryx had launched an investigation into FDT and discovered that a large amount of client funds had been misappropriated. At that time, Justin Sun had provided assistance to Techteryx with his personal funds to ensure that TUSD had sufficient liquidity, while TrueCoin was suspected of colluding with FDT to illegally transfer $456 million in TUSD reserves to a company in Dubai. First Digital subsequently responded to the allegations, stating that the dispute only involved TUSD and was completely unrelated to FDUSD, asserting that First Digital had sufficient solvency.
Undoubtedly, this action and the subsequent behavior of Binance, which allegedly "only notified large clients in small groups, cutting out retail investors," plunged CZ and He Yi into another public relations crisis, sparking dissatisfaction in the market towards centralized exchanges. In this storm, Justin Sun's role was portrayed as noble, exposing insider trading and protecting the rights of all investors. Perhaps Justin Sun's original intention was merely to reclaim his $500 million deposit, and this matter had no direct connection to Binance, but when FDUSD briefly decoupled, Binance found itself caught in the public outcry.
Despite the competition between the two in business, Justin Sun has repeatedly voiced support for CZ in public events within the crypto community. After the SEC lawsuit against Binance erupted in June 2023, Justin Sun publicly expressed his support for CZ on social media, stating, "As a friend of CZ, I am willing to firmly support him, believing that justice will prevail." In November 2023, when CZ announced his resignation as CEO of Binance, Justin Sun highly praised CZ's contributions on social media, mentioning their nearly ten-year acquaintance, affirming his leadership and industry influence, and stating that he "has pushed the industry to unprecedented heights," emphasizing that he would continue to strengthen cooperation with Binance in the future.
When the photo of Li Lin and Justin Sun drinking "couple's wine" went viral on social media, and when CZ and Justin Sun were seen laughing and chatting at the summit, onlookers found it difficult to discern whether this was mere theatrics or a genuine reconciliation. But perhaps the answer is not important—within the crypto industry, consensus on interests is far more cohesive than personal grudges. From the early chaotic days to the current wave of compliance, the history of these titans' games is precisely a footnote to the industry's evolution. Their grudges and collaborations are essentially exploring a path that aligns with regulatory frameworks while not losing the original spirit of blockchain.
As Justin Sun stated in an interview with Forbes, "True innovators must adhere to long-termism." When the smiles in the group photo are frozen in time, the night in Hong Kong remains dazzling, and the script of the crypto industry continues to be written—the next act may involve more intense competition or renewed collaboration in times of crisis. The only certainty is that the charm of this industry lies within these "both enemies and friends" stories.
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