Star Xu, CEO of OKX, has addressed allegations made by Tron founder Justin Sun, who accused the cryptocurrency exchange of neglecting a law enforcement request to freeze funds associated with a recent hack of Tron’s official X account.
According to Sun, OKX failed to respond to a “freeze notice” issued by law enforcement following the security breach that occurred on May 3, resulting in the compromise of Tron’s X account.
The breach reportedly involved the hacker posting a malicious smart contract address, sending direct messages, and interacting with unknown accounts.
Allegations of Ignored Freeze Request
In a post that has since been deleted, Sun claimed that he had reached out to the exchange through an official email without receiving any response, stating he was left with “no other way” to contact OKX’s compliance team.
“These stolen funds do not belong to me; I’m acting to protect the community,” Sun emphasized in his comments.
In response, Xu rebuffed the claims, stating on X, “OKX has a consumer protection policy governed by law.”
He further clarified, “We can’t freeze a customer’s funds based on your personal X post or oral communication. As the CEO of HTX, you should understand this.”
Dear Mr H.E. Justin Sun, our LE cooperation team just checked the email including spam box, we haven’t received any request related with this case. Can you give us the screenshot to show when the enforcement agency send the request to us? @justinsuntron https://t.co/QIPFUbOqbi pic.twitter.com/lkHZWvk6fm
— Star (@star_okx) May 3, 2025
XU additionally mentioned that OKX’s law enforcement cooperation team had thoroughly reviewed their email accounts, including the spam folder, and found no official documentation concerning the alleged request.
“Our LE cooperation team just checked the email, including the spam box; we haven’t received any request related to this case,” he reiterated.
Xu included a screenshot of Sun’s original deleted message, urging Sun to provide proof of the purported freeze notice, specifying the time and source of the request.
This incident reflects an increasing trend of social media-related hacks within the cryptocurrency sector.
For instance, on March 15, the account of Yu Hu, founder of the crypto AI platform Kaito, was hacked to spread misinformation about compromised wallets, shortly after an attacker opened a short position in KAITO tokens.
Likewise, on February 26, the X account of Pump.fun was compromised, serving as a platform to promote a fraudulent governance token.
Additionally, on April 15, the X account of UK MP Lucy Powell was hacked to endorse a scam token.
The Rising Tide of Crypto Hacks in 2025
Data from blockchain security firm Immunefi indicates that hackers siphoned off over $92.4 million from various crypto projects in April 2025. This figure marks a 27.3% increase year-over-year and is more than double the losses documented in March.
April’s incidents stemmed from 15 separate hacking events, with two major exploits contributing significantly to the total losses.
The open-source platform UPCX lost $70 million in a single hack, while decentralized exchange KiloEx suffered a loss of $7.5 million.
Other notable victims included Loopscale, ZKsync, Term Labs, and Bitcoin Mission, each reporting losses exceeding $1 million.
Altogether, the first four months of 2025 have seen a staggering $1.74 billion lost to crypto-related hacks—exceeding the total losses suffered in all of 2024, which reached $1.49 billion.
Immunefi previously pointed out that the first quarter of 2025 recorded the highest number of hacks in the history of the cryptocurrency industry, largely driven by significant breaches of centralized exchanges Phemex and Bybit.
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