Crypto billionaire Justin Sun: 18.5 million for dinner with Trump!

Crypto billionaire Justin Sun: 18.5 million for dinner with Trump!

Justin Sun, a 34-year-old crypto billionaire with roots in China, is causing a stir in the crypto world with his activities. Born in Qinghai in 1990, he grew up in southern China and received a good education at an early age; his father was a political reporter and his mother wrote about sports. At 17, he won a national writing competition. After studying history in Beijing, he continued his education in the USA before becoming aware of Bitcoin through an article in the New York Times in 2012. He subsequently worked as a China representative for the US crypto company Ripple and founded the crypto network Tron in 2017, which now has around 300 million users.

However, Tron is also criticized. The platform is often compared to Ethereum, which has led to questions about its legitimacy. Nevertheless, Sun managed to appear on the Forbes list of richest people for the first time in April 2025, with an estimated fortune of $8.5 billion. He himself states that his net worth, including crypto holdings and art collection, is over 40 billion dollars. His bizarre purchases include the work of art “Comedian,” which he bought at auction for $6.24 million and ate ten days later.

Involvement in the crypto community

In 2019, he paid $4.6 million for a charity lunch with Warren Buffett, which he had to cancel due to kidney stones, but rescheduled in 2020. He also secured a seat on a Blue Origin rocket for $28 million, but never flew. Surprisingly, he donated a million dollars to Greta Thunberg's foundation, even though it is critical of cryptocurrencies. In 2024, Sun invested significant funds in the crypto firm World Liberty Financial (WLFI), which is linked to Donald Trump. His investment was over $80 million, and he purchased an exclusive seat for a dinner with Trump, for which he paid $18.5 million.

But Sun's rise has been overshadowed by legal challenges. In 2023, the US Securities and Exchange Commission sued him for market manipulation and surreptitious advertising. In March 2023, the SEC accused Sun and its companies, including the Tron Foundation and BitTorrent, of fraud and issuing unregistered securities. Sun denied the allegations and sought to dismiss the lawsuit.

Litigation and SEC

Currently, Sun and the SEC have requested that a federal court pause enforcement of the case against him to explore a possible settlement. This motion is reminiscent of a similar request in a case against Binance and its co-founder Changpeng Zhao. This could be part of a larger shakeup within the SEC, which has recently been rethinking its legal strategy when dealing with crypto companies. Under the interim chairmanship of Mark Uyeda, the SEC has already closed some cases and restrictions that were put in place during the Biden administration.

In the context of these developments, Sun's role in the crypto scene is increasingly being discussed, especially since the SEC recently withdrew its lawsuit against Coinbase. The lawsuit against Gemini has also been dropped, changing the SEC's perceived stance toward crypto investors. As the legal framework for digital currencies changes, Sun's influence and business in the crypto world remains of high interest.