On-chain transfers traced by Protos indicate that 700 million TRX left an HTX cold wallet in May, ahead of a June proof-of-reserves report that showed HTX’s TRX balance had fallen by roughly the same amount. At current prices cited in the report, that quantity of TRX is worth about $238 million.

The traced funds did not move to a single destination. According to the analysis, part of the TRX later reached an address tied to voting for Poloniex’s Super Representative, while another portion was routed to a TRONScan-labeled Binance hot wallet.

A reserve wallet transfer ahead of the balance drop

The transfers begin with TAuUCiH4JVNBZmDnEDZkXEUXDARdGpXTmX, identified in HTX’s proof-of-reserves as “HTX-Cold 6.” Protos said HTX moved 700 million TRX out of that wallet in May and split the tokens across several addresses it was able to identify.

That movement matters because HTX’s June proof-of-reserves later showed an approximately 700 million TRX decline in the exchange’s holdings. The article links the outflow and the later disclosure by amount and timing, without claiming a formal explanation from HTX in the source material.

How 200 million TRX moved through HTX-linked addresses

Of the 700 million TRX, 200 million were sent to TPznYuGCgYSWW8boAnFVMvv3RhNKqFaVpL. Those tokens were then forwarded to TFTWNgDBkQ5wQoP8RXpRznnHvAVV8x5jLu, an address labeled “HTX 4” on TRONScan.

Protos noted that HTX 4 had also appeared in the proof-of-reserves, although it has since been removed and did not disclose TRX among its listed assets. From that 200 million TRX, 180 million were then sent in two transactions to TEF9ZVUxhmGGffvkf59e2vdLfAG1QCMb7B, referred to as TEF9 in the report.

The larger 500 million TRX leg and the TT2 address

The remaining 500 million TRX were sent to TT2T17KZhoDu47i2E4FWxfG79zdkEWkU9N, or TT2. Protos described TT2 as a controversial address: Arkham Intelligence tags it as “Justin Sun?”, it has been used as an important redeemer of TrueUSD, and it has previously delegated energy to HTX 4.

The report also noted uncertainty around TT2’s ownership. It said Justin Sun had been evasive when Bloomberg asked him about the address in the past, so the article stops short of definitively attributing TT2 to him.

Links to Binance and to a Poloniex-supporting address

Before TT2 received the 500 million TRX from HTX reserves, it reportedly made two notable sets of transfers. First, TT2 sent 100 million TRX to TEgMTsmbVbjGK9bSeEjkZmcE8EFW8iJ8RT, which immediately passed the same amount to HTX 4. HTX 4 then sent the funds to TGPeN3mRTtYaAPvkPH2RJYwUQVcjYvMRS3, and from there they were forwarded to TDqSquXBgUCLYvYC4XZgrprLK589dkhSCf, an address labeled by TRONScan as Binance-Hot 7.

Second, TT2 sent 180 million TRX to TBRoa9xabNSTXTSK6iQAMPQQ7CNo2j2yuF, which quickly forwarded the funds to HTX 4. HTX 4 then sent that 180 million onward, again in two transactions, to TEF9. The same sequence also included a 35 million TRX transfer back to TT2, creating what Protos described as a loop.

According to the article, TEF9 is an address that supports Poloniex’s Super Representative. That means part of the TRX that left HTX reserves appears to have ended up at an address associated with governance support for the Justin Sun-owned exchange.

What is confirmed so far

The reporting establishes a path for a portion of the TRX that left HTX reserve addresses before the June snapshot, and it says the movement resembles a pattern Protos had previously reported in HTX-linked stETH flows, including the use of short-lived intermediary addresses.

At the same time, the article places the scale in context. Even after the decline, HTX’s most recent disclosure still claims total holdings of 9.3 billion TRX, including 922 million TRX that are currently lent on JustLend. The confirmed next reference point, based on the source, remains HTX’s reserve disclosures and the public on-chain records showing where parts of the 700 million TRX moved.

Source: protos.com