{"id":29533,"date":"2020-10-02T14:42:26","date_gmt":"2020-10-02T11:42:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/?p=29533"},"modified":"2025-08-27T17:33:00","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T14:33:00","slug":"bittorrent-founder-justin-sun-is-exactly-the-sort-of-scoundrel-the-media-say-he-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/bittorrent-founder-justin-sun-is-exactly-the-sort-of-scoundrel-the-media-say-he-is\/","title":{"rendered":"BitTorrent founder: Justin Sun is exactly the sort of scoundrel the media say he is"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>BitTorrent protocol author Bram Cohen said he received most of the proceeds from the sale of BitTorrent from the Tron founder Justin Sun, but the amount was less than agreed.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">After much sabre-rattling I eventually got most of it but no explanation was given for why the amount was reduced. Indications were that the escrow agent dispensed the money over objections but everybody stopped communicating with me clearly like they were about to get sued<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Bram Cohen (@bramcohen) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bramcohen\/status\/1311441832530780166?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 30, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>There were indications that the escrow agent sent the funds despite objections, but communication with me was halted as if they were about to be sued,<\/p>\n<p>he wrote.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cohen also commented on the recent <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/investigation-justin-sun-targets-decentralisation-through-brothel-marketing\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">investigation<\/span><\/a> by The Verge into Justin Sun.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It drew on testimony from former and current employees of BitTorrent, which had been acquired. They said Sun created an oppressive working atmosphere with elements of violence, and at the heart of his business was not technology but marketing designed to operate like a brothel.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cohen said Sun is \u201cevery bit the scumbag\u201d this article paints him to be.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">I can confirm that Justin Sun is every bit the scumbag this article paints him to be <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/HYw4mKd7hd\">https:\/\/t.co\/HYw4mKd7hd<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Bram Cohen (@bramcohen) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bramcohen\/status\/1311360099680579584?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 30, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>In addition to his conviction that Sun is a fraud, Cohen attributed his animosity to the fact that the BitTorrent sale was designed to pay ordinary users disproportionately less.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">(c) he tried to make me come back and re-vest all my shares in BitTorrent after the sale, years after I owned them free and clear. I am not a slave, fuck you.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Bram Cohen (@bramcohen) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bramcohen\/status\/1311701224828227584?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 1, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cHe tried to make me come back and reinvest all my BitTorrent shares after the sale, years after I owned them free and clear. I am not a slave, go to hell,\u201d Cohen added.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>In response to a Twitter user asking why Cohen sold BitTorrent to Sun, he said that at the time of the sale he did not have control.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">I didn\u2019t have control of BitTorrent at the time it sold. I\u2019d spent the previous few years keeping the company from falling apart and couldn\u2019t devote the rest of my life to that, and he paid cash.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Bram Cohen (@bramcohen) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bramcohen\/status\/1311392693709230080?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 30, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cI spent the previous few years keeping the company from falling apart, and I couldn&#8217;t devote the rest of my life to that, and he paid cash.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Sun himself said that he respects Cohen&#8217;s work but finds his comments inappropriate. He added that he bought BitTorrent at a price that \u201cshould be the most money you\u2019ve received in your lifetime,\u201d which Cohen earned over his entire life.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">(1\/2) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bramcohen?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@bramcohen<\/a> I respect your work but your comment here is improper. I bought BitTorrent at a price which should be the most money you\u2019ve received in your lifetime. We\u2019ve only met once &#038; didn\u2019t have any association outside of this deal, I\u2019m confused why you feel this way.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Justin Sun\ud83c\udf1e (@justinsuntron) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/justinsuntron\/status\/1311617788725719040?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 1, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/p>\n<p>As noted, Justin Sun acquired BitTorrent in 2018.<\/p>\n<p>The long-running issue was that Cohen could not receive the full payout for the deal. In July 2019 he said that the last payment from Justin Sun under the deal had not left escrow within the agreed timeframe.<\/p>\n<p>Read more about how Justin Sun built and runs his business in ForkLog.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"guwHOaQrHb\">\n<p>Justin Sun&#8217;s secret projects, or what might lie behind the creation of the business empire of the TRON founder<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Follow ForkLog news on <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ForkLog\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Twitter<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The BitTorrent protocol author Bram Cohen said he received most of the proceeds from the sale of BitTorrent from Tron founder Justin Sun, but the amount was less than agreed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29534,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"select":"1","news_style_id":"","cryptorium_level":"","_short_excerpt_text":"","creation_source":"","_metatest_mainpost_news_update":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[980,1963,1302],"class_list":["post-29533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-bittorrent","tag-bram-cohen","tag-justin-sun"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"views":"24","promo_type":"1","layout_type":"","short_excerpt":"","is_update":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29533"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29533\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29535,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29533\/revisions\/29535"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}