Circle denies claims of illicit financing and ties to Justin Sun

USDC stablecoin issuer Circle has denied claims of illicit financing and ties to Tron laminitis Justin Sun, according to an unfastened missive accessed from Circle’s blog connected Nov. 30. A non-profit watchdog radical antecedently accused Circle of having ties to Sun.

Circle unfastened missive to U.S. senators Elizabeth Warren and Sherrod Brown. Source: Circle.

The station was published connected Nov. 11 and modified connected Nov. 30, but Cointelegraph couldn’t find the work day of the missive itself. The missive was addressed to U.S. senators Elizabeth Warren and Sherrod Brown and signed by Circle main strategy serviceman and caput of nationalist argumentation Dante Disparte.

In the letter, Disparte claimed that Circle has “recently became aware” of “false” claims being made astir it by the “so-called Campaign for Accountability (“CfA”). Circle “does not facilitate, straight oregon indirectly, oregon concern Hamas (or immoderate different illicit actors),” Disparte stated. In addition, it does not “bank” oregon supply fiscal services to Justin Sun, helium claimed.

Disparte dismissed the allegation that Circle facilitated “major flows of funds to Hamas oregon Hezbollah,” claiming alternatively that these accusations are based connected uncorroborated, unverified posts to societal media. “Only $160 was transferred successful USDC among [illicit wallets]” the missive stated, adding that “none of that was acquired from Circle.”

Disparte besides claimed that Circle stopped providing services to Justin Sun successful February, 2023, stating:

“Neither Mr. Sun nor immoderate entity owned oregon controlled by Mr. Sun, including the TRON Foundation oregon Huobi Global, presently person accounts with Circle. To date, the U.S. authorities has not specifically designated Mr. Sun oregon his entities arsenic Specially Designated Nationals. Nonetheless, Circle terminated each accounts held by Mr. Sun and his affiliated companies successful February 2023.”

The unfastened missive from Circle appears to person been sent successful effect to a Nov. 9 missive from the non-profit morals radical Campaign for Accountability (CfA). CfA’s missive claimed that Circle has extended ties to Justin Sun’s Tron Foundation and large Wall Street investors and that Sun’s cross-chain protocol, SunSwap, is often utilized for wealth laundering.

Related: WSJ debacle fueled US lawmakers’ ill-informed crusade against crypto

Claims that crypto is being utilized to concern coercion person been commonplace since the Israeli-Hamas warfare broke retired connected Oct. 7. On Oct. 10, The Wall Street Journal reported that “over $130 million” of cryptocurrency had been donated to violent organizations. The media outlet aboriginal corrected its story, stating alternatively that $12 cardinal successful crypto “may person been” sent to these organizations.