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- The creator of IPFS accuses TRON CEO Justin Sun of stealing the company’s logo and code.
- Sun has denied Juan Benet’s accusations and has in turn accused him of defrauding his investors.
The creator of the IPFS platform, Juan Benet, has accused TRON and its CEO, Justin Sun, of stealing its code, brand and logo and plagiarizing entire sections of the whitepaper. Benet referred to an announcement by BitTorrent that included the rebranding of the logo and also an update of the BitTorrent file system (BTFS).
The InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) is a protocol and platform for sharing and storing files. The platform was developed by Benet and Protocol Labs and launched in February 2015. IPFS operates through a decentralized system that depends on users to store parts of the files.
Aaaaaahahaha it’s not enough to fork all our code, rebrand it and lie its theirs; copy paste random chunks of our papers, and defraud their investors with a nonsensical mishmash. Tron also can’t even think of an original logo 🤯🤣 https://t.co/h6EGPNwXzQ
— Juan Benet (@juanbenet) April 16, 2020
The founder of the IPFS continued with his accusations, saying he was saddened by the direction BitTorrent was taking. Benet added that he used to admire BitTorrent and described the action as “a pity for a big name”. The creator of the IPFS invited the original BitTorrent developers, who still work there, to join a “legitimate” peer-to-peer project. Benet suggested WebTorrent, DAT, SSB, Ethereum and IPFS.
Sun is going to counterattack
BitTorrent responded to Benet’s accusations, and via its Twitter account, the platform announced that it would rather devote its time to developing its technology than respond to IPFS’s accusations. BitTorrent also stated that the platform had paved the way for the emergence of IPFS and that they should therefore show appreciation. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin joined the discussion and stated the following:
This tweet is honestly painful to read. It’s like looking at a zombie: the account *looks like* something you’ve grown up with and known and loved for 15 years, but underneath it’s just, well, now it’s just another appendage of the Sun dictatorship.
Later, Sun himself responded to Benet and said that IPFS does not own the hexagonal geometrical shape. He also invited the founder of the IPFS to “examine his ego” and highlighted the company’s alleged backwardness towards BitTorrent.
You’re a vaporware scamming your investors w/ concept for a long time. Shame on you! You’re the one who copy/paste from BitTorrent‘s technology & we didn’t say anything. We believe in unity instead of accusing each other. You stand on your morale high ground accusing others who has worked hard & delivered, do you feel cold up there? What have you done?
Sun’s response sparked another debate, with members of the crypto community reminded Sun of earlier controversies surrounding TRON. One user pointed to the TRON-based lending platform JUST. At its launch, allegations were made that the platform was a copy of MakerDAO, the Ethereum-based platform. Two years ago, Sun was also accused of plagiarizing the FileCoin and IPFS whitepapers. At that time Benet also drew the attention to the plagiarism.
Wow! Absurd! TRON's "paper" is mostly copied from other projects, or is super basic p2p passed off as original. Zero references.
Archived that PDF in IPFS, in case they take it down: https://t.co/jv7EuSYenL pic.twitter.com/GbiL7MUrnc
— Juan Benet (@juanbenet) January 7, 2018
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