"I measure a person by how much money they make." These were the words Justin Sun spoke during a speech eight years ago when he returned to China to start his entrepreneurial journey.

He not only said it but also lived by it. Since becoming the legal representative of the "陪我 App" in 2014, the pragmatic, almost coldly calculative Justin Sun has harbored a dream of building a business empire. He is determined to exploit the rules to the maximum extent possible, leverage resources, and win the game he is playing.

Fast forward eight years, Justin Sun has indeed realized what is arguably the ultimate goal of every entrepreneur—a public listing.

His latest deal, valued at $100 million, involves a publicly traded U.S.-listed company called SRM Entertainment. Through a reverse merger, the TRON ecosystem successfully went public on NASDAQ. At the age of 35, Justin Sun is now the head of a listed company. Meanwhile, this 90s-born entrepreneur also commands a portfolio of seven to eight well-known companies and projects.

Justin's Blockchain Empire

TRON: Justin Sun's First Bold Gamble in Crypto

In 2013, Justin Sun joined Ripple’s China team as an ambassador. During this time, he earned his first pot of gold and built valuable connections within the blockchain community. Leveraging these resources, he quickly decided to start his own venture in the blockchain space, aspiring to achieve something monumental.

By 2017, Ethereum had already made a name for itself. Shortly after celebrating his 27th birthday, Justin Sun abandoned his earlier social media startup, gathered a few friends from Peking University, and, with strong backing from capital heavyweights, launched TRON (TRX) with ambitions of making a significant mark in the crypto space.

Fortunately, the launch of the TRX token and the subsequent ICO successfully raised approximately $400 million. Unfortunately, however, the "September 4th ICO ban" era arrived in China. Domestic project teams and exchanges were thrown into disarray, vowing to steer clear of blockchain for future generations.

During this most challenging period, Justin Sun refunded the ICO funds, and TRON's early core team nearly disbanded. Fearing safety risks, many co-founders left. Justin Sun later admitted, "Out of my six years of entrepreneurship, the first three years were almost a total waste."

A breakthrough came in April 2019 when Tether decided to release the TRC-20 version of USDT on TRON's network. From then on, TRON focused entirely on promoting and popularizing USDT. This move almost single-handedly established TRON’s current valuation, with 99% of its market value tied to this decision. "In the future, USDT issued on the TRON blockchain will become the largest stablecoin in the world," Justin Sun once declared. Years later, his prediction came true. A significant portion of global USDT on-chain transfers now operates through TRON’s infrastructure.

Data Source: DefiLama

The latest on-chain data shows that the transfer volume and gas consumption of USDT on the Tron network now account for over 98% of the total on public chains. In other words, Tron’s on-chain activity is almost entirely sustained by USDT acting as its "lifeblood." For each USDT transaction, users typically need to pay a fee ranging from $0.3 to $8. According to current statistics, Tron’s daily on-chain revenue has exceeded $2.1 million, with annualized revenue reaching $770 million, the vast majority of which comes from USDT’s high-frequency transfer fees. Daily transaction volume surpasses 2.46 million transactions, with an average fee of about $0.85 per transaction, which is roughly in line with USDT's actual transfer cost.

As of now, Tron's total market capitalization has reached $26.96 billion, surpassing Mixue Ice Cream & Tea, cementing its position as a frontrunner among global mainstream public blockchains and solidifying its core role in stablecoin on-chain circulation.

BitTorrent’s "Nostalgic Acquisition"

In the summer of 2018, Justin Sun made a move that seemed even more "out-of-the-box" than creating Tron — he spent $140 million to acquire BitTorrent, a download tool that was already considered "past its prime."

For many people born in the '80s and '90s, the name BitTorrent will not be unfamiliar: Founded in 2001, it was the first large-scale application of peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing protocols in the world. At its peak, approximately 40% of global internet traffic passed through the BitTorrent protocol. During an era when centralized internet platforms were not yet ubiquitous, BitTorrent symbolized an entire generation's vision of "download freedom."

However, for Justin Sun, this was not merely a "nostalgic acquisition." Acquiring the BitTorrent client was just the beginning—his ultimate goal was to blockchainify the entire BitTorrent protocol, giving this old-school P2P network a "rebirth."

Shortly after finalizing the acquisition, Justin Sun introduced the BTT token, adopting the TRC-10 standard, along with the launch of the "BitTorrent Speed" project. Users downloading torrents could pay BTT to receive faster download speeds, while seeders could earn BTT rewards by uploading.

This vision may seem promising, but implementation is far from easy.

As of now, BTT’s circulating supply stands at 986 trillion tokens, with a price of approximately $0.00000068, yielding a total market cap of about $670 million. The 24-hour trading volume hovers steadily around $10 million, with an annualized trading volume exceeding $2.6 billion. Though it remains approximately 78% below its all-time high (reached in January 2022 at $0.00000304), in today’s meme-coin-dominated market, such performance could be considered fairly average.

Poloniex and HTX: Justin Sun’s "Cash Flow"

For a long time, one of Justin Sun’s major ventures in the crypto space has been cryptocurrency exchanges. He currently controls two platforms: Poloniex and HTX.

Let’s start with Poloniex. Poloniex, a veteran exchange, was initially acquired in February 2018 by the crypto startup Circle for $400 million. At the time, Circle aimed to transform it into a compliance-first platform but couldn't sustain the effort for long. In October 2019, Poloniex spun off from Circle with backing from an Asian investment consortium and Justin Sun. It then pivoted to a deep collaboration with the TRON ecosystem, working together on initiatives like the TRC20-USDT stablecoin, DeFi projects, and exclusive TRON features.

Fast forward to June 9, 2022, when Justin Sun made another bold move. Teaming up with the Poloniex Reserve and several well-known investment institutions, he officially acquired Poloniex and rebranded its Chinese name to “TRON Exchange.” This acquisition was widely viewed as Justin Sun filling a critical gap in the TRON ecosystem—its lack of a proprietary exchange—and marked the beginning of a “dual-engine” strategy of integrating blockchain and exchange operations. As of now, Poloniex processes a daily trading volume of about $500 million.

Later in the same year, in October 2022, Justin Sun set his sights on yet another veteran exchange: Huobi.

Initially, he joined Huobi's Global Advisory Committee in an advisory capacity, announcing plans to drive Huobi’s international expansion and upgrade the HT ecosystem. Shortly afterward, Huobi’s management team underwent a significant reshuffle. Ultimately, through his Hong Kong-based asset management firm About Capital, Justin Sun acquired Huobi’s equity for $1 billion, becoming the de facto owner of the exchange. To this day, Huobi remains a top 10 exchange, with a daily trading volume reaching $2.4 billion. Huobi’s platform token, HTX, is currently priced at $0.29, with a market capitalization of $47 million.

Data Source: coingecko

Poloniex was first acquired by the crypto startup Circle in February 2018 for $400 million. In October 2019, with backing from an Asian investment group and Justin Sun, the platform parted ways with Circle. It began a series of collaborations with Tron in numerous areas such as the TRC20-USDT stablecoin, DeFi decentralized finance, and the TRON trading section. These initiatives helped Poloniex transition from a North American-focused exchange to a global one.

On June 9, 2022, Justin Sun, the founder of TRON, announced the formal acquisition of Poloniex in partnership with Poloniex Reserve and several renowned investment institutions. Simultaneously, the TRON trading platform was introduced as the brand for its Chinese-speaking community. This acquisition not only ended the absence of an exchange platform within the TRON blockchain ecosystem but also marked the official launch of TRON's dual-engine strategy focusing on "blockchain + trading platform."

In October 2022, Justin Sun joined Huobi's Global Advisory Board, revealing plans to expand the platform’s global strategic initiatives, enhance international branding, and focus on driving the operational growth of the Huobi Token (HT). Following this announcement, Huobi's executives started resigning, and Justin Sun, via the Hong Kong-based asset management firm About Capital, acquired Huobi's equity for $1 billion, becoming its de facto controller.

As of now, Huobi remains one of the top 10 cryptocurrency exchanges, with a daily trading volume of $2.4 billion.

USDD, TUSD, and WBTC

Beyond blockchains and exchanges, stablecoins and wrapped Bitcoin play an indispensable role in Justin Sun's expansive strategies within the crypto space.

USDD, TUSD, and WBTC—three tokens closely associated with Justin Sun—are his trump cards in the domains of stablecoins and cross-chain assets.

Let’s start with USDD. USDD is a decentralized stablecoin personally spearheaded by Justin Sun, issued and managed by the Tron DAO Reserve. Its operational mechanism is also a product of his direct design. To ensure that USDD maintains its peg to the U.S. dollar, Justin Sun has direct control over the key collateral assets in its reserve pool, which include TRX, USDT, and Bitcoin among others. Whenever market fluctuations threaten the peg, he has repeatedly injected his own funds and reserve positions to stabilize it, solidifying his role as the “behind-the-scenes controller” of USDD. According to the latest data, USDD’s on-chain market capitalization is approximately $432 million, ranking around 10th in market cap among stablecoins.

Data Source: Coinmarketcap

Let's talk about TUSD. Although TUSD is not officially listed under Justin Sun's personal assets, various on-chain evidence and fund flows have effectively confirmed his shadow ownership. Since 2023, TUSD has become a crucial liquidity-supporting token for TRON and HTX (formerly Huobi). However, this chess piece is not without risks: TUSD has suffered from multiple de-pegging incidents due to controversies around custody and auditing, and it has been targeted by the SEC for litigation. In 2024, Binance delisted its main trading pairs, and by 2025, due to the implementation of MiCA regulations, TUSD was fully delisted within the EU, retaining only withdrawal channels. To stabilize the situation, Justin Sun had to inject over $400 million out-of-pocket in early 2025 to personally maintain TUSD’s stability, further tying this stablecoin deeply to himself. As of now, TUSD's market capitalization stands at $492.6 million.

Data Source: Coinmarketcap

Finally, let’s look at WBTC (Wrapped Bitcoin). This is an ERC-20 token issued on the Ethereum network, first proposed in 2017, and officially released with its whitepaper in 2019. Its value is pegged 1:1 with Bitcoin; each WBTC is backed by the same amount of Bitcoin held as reserves, managed by a custodian institution (currently BitGo), ensuring that WBTC holders can redeem their tokens for Bitcoin at any time.

Although WBTC is not a project directly controlled by Justin Sun, some foreign media outlets view this essential asset within the TRON stablecoin ecosystem as effectively under his influence. Related reading: "Why Did Justin Sun's Entry into WBTC Cause Such a Stir in the Market?"

The Tron DAO Reserve holds large amounts of Bitcoin over the long term. To facilitate on-chain collateralization, the team converts portions of BTC into WBTC cross-chain to support the stable functioning of USDD. It can be said that without WBTC, there would be no security buffer for USDD on TRON today. According to the latest CoinMarketCap data, WBTC’s market capitalization stands at $13.784 billion, making it one of the largest Bitcoin-mapping assets globally.

Data Source: Coinmarketcap

DLive: Does Justin Sun Have a Streaming Platform Too?

Compared to some of the earlier discussed projects, DLive might be a bit under the radar.

Initially, DLive was a decentralized live streaming platform built on the Lino blockchain. By the end of 2019, it was acquired by BitTorrent, after which the entire team and tech stack were seamlessly integrated into the TRON ecosystem.

This integration was another strategic step by Justin Sun in his pursuit of a "content platform + blockchain" roadmap. DLive adopted BTFS (BitTorrent File System) for decentralized storage, while BTT tokens were used for tipping streamers and incentivizing content distribution, creating a closed-loop system that spans content creation, storage, and revenue sharing, all powered by blockchain. Additionally, DLive shares its user account system with BitTorrent, uTorrent, and Steemit, enabling BTT to gradually evolve into the "universal credit" of this content ecosystem.

Because of these features, DLive once attracted top-tier global streamers like PewDiePie, with its monthly active users steadily growing, making it one of the most traffic-driven content platforms within the TRON ecosystem. However, the platform's lenient community management policy also planted potential risks.

Top-tier global streamer PewDiePie streaming on DLive at the time

At the beginning of 2021, DLive came under heavy criticism from the public and regulatory authorities after users streamed the U.S. Capitol riots on its platform. This led to external doubts about its content moderation and risk control mechanisms.

APENFT Marketplace: A Treasure Trove of Digital Collectibles

When it comes to Justin Sun's identity, apart from being a businessman, he is perhaps best known as a fervent art collector. His collection boasts a long list of world-class masterpieces: original works by Picasso, Andy Warhol, Giacometti, and Basquiat are all part of his portfolio. Most recently, he grabbed headlines again by purchasing a $6.2 million artwork of a "banana," securing his spot as a trending topic.

As a top-tier art collector, it’s not surprising that Justin Sun owns an NFT trading platform.

On March 29, 2021, Justin Sun officially registered the APENFT Foundation in Singapore, aiming to use this platform to bridge the gap between traditional art and the NFT world. APENFT’s core mission is straightforward: on one hand, acquiring top-notch traditional artworks and NFTs as underlying assets, and on the other, incubating emerging NFT artists by providing them with solid support. At the same time, the foundation sponsors galleries, organizes exhibitions, establishes awards, and promotes art criticism and research, offering the global art community a blockchain-based path forward.

To ensure greater security for on-chain artwork, APENFT leverages the dual underlying technologies of Ethereum and the TRON blockchain. Ethereum is utilized to support smart contracts and global recognition, while TRON compensates with high throughput and low gas fees for practical implementation. Justin Sun’s earlier venture, BTFS (BitTorrent File System), is also integrated, providing decentralized storage to ensure artwork files are always accessible, immutable, and protected from single-point failures.

Since 2021, APENFT Marketplace has officially gone live. As an NFT trading platform based on TRON, it specializes in digitizing top-tier artworks and fractionalizing them into NFTs, allowing global users to hold "fragmented ownership rights." In 2022, Justin Sun spent tens of millions of dollars acquiring collectibles like the "Digital Zodiac Heads," "The Nose," and "Reclining Nude with Necklace," directly donating them to the APENFT Foundation to further enhance its influence in the digital art domain.

Capitalizing on the TRON community’s traffic, Justin Sun’s inherent notoriety, and TRON’s ultra-low transaction fees—often less than $1—APENFT Marketplace quickly attracted a substantial number of creators and enthusiasts. Sun also pledged that all the platform’s transaction fees would be 100% used for buybacks and token burns of the platform’s native token. Coupled with activities like hackathons and trading competitions, he effectively made NFTs a buzzing industry.

As of now, the market capitalization of APENFT Marketplace’s native token $NFT stands at $420 million.

The Political "Marriage": Justin Sun’s Love-Hate Relationship with U.S. Presidents

Justin Sun’s connection to the United States dates back to his university days. In 2011, Sun pursued a master’s degree in East Asian Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. During his time on campus, he co-founded Junshi International with his peers, under which they produced the program "Three Talks in America." The show covered a wide range of topics including regional discrimination, stereotypes, food safety, the process of buying a house in the U.S., and other challenges faced by international students, along with cultural differences they encountered.

The program initially gained popularity on platforms such as Youku, Bilibili, and YouTube. By the end of 2014, its videos had surpassed 10 million views across all platforms, with over 5 million views on Youku's homepage alone. Over time, "留美三人行" ("American Trio") evolved into the first new media platform and content provider connecting young audiences in China and the U.S., focusing on studying abroad in America. By 2015, it was even featured as a discussion topic in a program on CCTV4.

During this period, although his primary focus was a master's degree in East Asian Studies, his coursework spanned the College of Arts and Sciences, the Wharton School of Business, and the School of Engineering. At the Wharton School, he audited and enrolled in courses such as Investments, Entrepreneurial Management, and Venture Capital. Through Reddit and university tech communities, he encountered the concept of Bitcoin. At that time, BTC was priced around $10, and he began experimenting with small investments, gradually increasing his position.

By the end of 2013, he turned down the opportunity to pursue a Juris Doctor degree and officially joined Ripple Labs, becoming a developer of the Ripple protocol. In 2014, he received investment from IDG Capital and returned to China to establish the country's first company focused on decentralized clearinghouse development—Ripay Technology Co., Ltd. That same year, Bitcoin entered a mini bull market, surging from $13 at the start of the year to $1,147. However, the good times were short-lived, and Bitcoin soon entered a bear market that lasted over two years.

In September 2017, Justin Sun anticipated the impending regulatory ban and advocated for selling before the ban was officially announced. Tron raised approximately $70 million during its ICO. Not long after, Justin Sun left China and emigrated to the United States, where he avoided returning to mainland China for years. As a result, he was frequently dubbed the "Jia Yueting of the Crypto Space," drawing parallels to the controversial Chinese entrepreneur.

Around 2020, due to the frequent use of his blockchain platform Tron in black-market transactions, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the U.S. Department of Justice initiated investigations into him. According to reports from *The Wall Street Journal*, Justin Sun refrained from entering the U.S. for years out of fear of these investigations by the FBI and the Justice Department.

Biden Administration's "Unfriendliness"

After navigating various political forces, in 2021, he was appointed as Grenada's Permanent Representative to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and Ambassador, receiving the title of "Ambassador-at-large." This marked his official status as a national representative with diplomatic immunity. However, after a regime change in Grenada due to the Labour Party's electoral victory in June 2022, Justin Sun's diplomatic role gradually became marginalized.

In 2023, Justin Sun was formally sued by the SEC (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission), which accused him and his company of fraudulently inflating the prices of TRX and BTT tokens and selling unregistered securities. Additionally, eight celebrities including Akon, Ne-Yo, Austin Mahone, Soulja Boy, Lindsay Lohan, Jake Paul, and Lil Yachty were accused of promoting these cryptocurrencies without disclosing their paid endorsements.

Later in October 2024, Justin Sun was appointed as the "Speaker" and "Prime Minister" of Liberland. Liberland is a self-proclaimed libertarian micronation claiming sovereignty over a small floodplain area along the Danube River between Serbia and Croatia—a claim that is "not practically controlled."

The Trump Family's "Redemption"

In September 2024, the Trump family deeply engaged in a cryptocurrency project called World Liberty Financial. From late last year to early this year, Justin Sun invested a total of $75 million in WLFI. This investment marked a turning point in his fortunes. He was not only appointed as an advisor to the project, but his cryptocurrency exchange HTX also became the first platform to list WLFI's new stablecoin "USD1." Subsequently, he began heavily acquiring Trump tokens.

In fact, even before Wall Street's traditional financial giants began entering the cryptocurrency market, and before U.S. bipartisan political debates over crypto legislation intensified, Justin Sun had already started laying groundwork in the American market and with the Trump family. "Early on, I believed President Trump would bring many positive changes to the cryptocurrency space. After he was elected, the entire crypto world felt revitalized," Justin Sun remarked.

By serving as an advisor, "I built a bridge of communication between the crypto industry and the President, and to some extent, this may also serve as a future bridge for U.S.-China communication. My intention was to establish a good relationship with the Trump family and bring more people from the traditional world into the blockchain space. We will maintain a long-term, sustained collaboration with President Trump’s cryptocurrency project to drive the growth and progress of our entire industry," he stated.

Left: Justin Sun; Right: Donald J. Trump Jr.

After the official announcement by the Trump Memecoin $Trump that the top 220 token holders would be invited to a dinner, Justin Sun confirmed in a post that he is the largest holder of Trump Coin, possessing over 1.43 million $Trump tokens, with an approximate value of $2.3 million. This secured him a spot among the 25 investors invited to the exclusive Trump private VIP reception. As part of this special honor, he was awarded a limited-edition Trump-branded Tourbillon watch valued at $100,000 and was granted an opportunity to visit the White House.

Justin Sun Attends Trump Dinner as the "Largest Holder of TRUMP Token"

Justin Sun expressed his delight about returning to the United States. Not only did he visit multiple locations and businesses, but he also made several posts on social media showcasing his admiration for Trump.

From being a "suspected criminal" pursued by the FBI and SEC, to confidently taking photos in broad daylight at the White House and flaunting the gold watch gifted by the President, Justin Sun has maneuvered skillfully under the influence of two U.S. Presidents. Through his own unique approach, he has become a part of this grand crypto-political spectacle.

Examining his enterprises and assets, from TRON to BitTorrent, from Poloniex to HTX, and on to stablecoins like USDD, TUSD, and WBTC that can dynamically influence on-chain liquidity, topped with the APENFT Marketplace, a "blockchain-based art gallery."

In less than a decade, Justin Sun has refined his crypto business empire into a comprehensive structure that spans public chains, trading platforms, stablecoins, NFTs, cross-chain capabilities, and even international politics.

Behind this seemingly decentralized yet tightly interconnected network, based solely on the data available from Rhythm BlockBeats, the market value of the core assets held by Justin Sun has already approached 43 billion USD.

It’s highly likely that Money-driven Brother Sun has no plans to stop just yet.

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