Cryptocurrency entrepreneur and Huobi adviser Justin Sun plans move to Hong Kong while talking up China market
- The Tron founder announced his commitment to move to Hong Kong on Twitter this week after months of talking up the potential of China’s crypto industry
- Sun would be the first high-profile Chinese crypto personality to relocate to Hong Kong since the city committed to becoming a virtual asset hub
Chinese cryptocurrency personality Justin Sun said he is planning to move to Hong Kong, where the government recently announced new policies to attract virtual asset businesses, and talked up the potential of China’s crypto industry, while the global industry remains in a slump after the collapse of FTX.
“China’s dominance in the [cryptocurrency] space is becoming more and more apparent,” Sun, founder of the blockchain platform Tron, wrote on Twitter on Monday. “With this in mind, I’ve decided to move to Hong Kong to be closer to the action and take advantage of the opportunities in Asia market.”
If Sun follows through with the move, it would mark an early sign of success for Hong Kong’s strategy of attracting some of the industry talent it lost from a regulatory environment seen as less favourable to cryptocurrencies than places like Singapore and Dubai. Past crackdowns on the industry in mainland China have also pushed out companies like Huobi, for which Sun is now an adviser and effectively its public face.
Sun has made similar remarks about the China market in recent months. In December, he argued in an interview with Bloomberg that Chinese regulators are using Hong Kong as a policy test for the mainland, and Hong Kong’s embrace of cryptocurrencies suggests an “opening up overall [of] crypto policy in China”.
In October, shortly after Huobi sold a majority stake to Hong Kong fund About Capital Management, Sun told Coindesk that there is “definitely” a possibility of Huobi “willing to expand the business in China” if the government allows crypto trading again. Beijing banned all such trading activity in September 2021.
In his Twitter thread on Monday, Sun said China’s crypto market is “on the rise” and “experts predict that China will dominate the next crypto bull market”.
Sun did not mention a timeline for moving to Hong Kong, and neither he nor Huobi responded to requests for comment.