Justin Sun, Tron DAO line up to contribute to Binance recovery fund: Exclusive

Blockchain operator Tron DAO and Justin Sun, its billionaire founder, have applied to contribute capital to Binance’s industry recovery fund.

Binance published details of the fund yesterday after CEO Changpeng Zhao had earlier signaled a plan to launch it. Binance poured an initial $1 billion into the vehicle. Meanwhile, Jump Crypto, Polygon Ventures, Aptos Labs, Animoca Brands, GSR, Kronos and Brooker Group agreed to an initial aggregate commitment of around $50 million.

“We were not aware of the announcement. Different players likely contacted Binance at different times. We have already applied to join this funding initiative and will hear back from them soon,” a Tron DAO spokesperson told The Block. A Binance spokesperson was unable to confirm the application when reached. 

Binance hopes the fund can mitigate some of the damage dealt to the crypto industry by the downfall of Sam Bankman-Fried’s empire of crypto companies, at the center of which stood crypto exchange FTX. A wide variety of businesses in the sector have been hit by FTX’s collapse, ranging from investment firms to early-stage DeFi projects.

By design, contributions to the industry recovery fund can be tracked using blockchain analytics. Binance said in its blog post yesterday that its investment could be increased to $2 billion “in the near future if the need arises.”

The fund will target projects that are deemed economically viable and innovative but facing liquidity issues as a result of the FTX crisis.

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