{"id":402817,"date":"2023-05-29T21:49:49","date_gmt":"2023-05-29T21:49:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/?page_id=402817"},"modified":"2023-07-31T12:30:46","modified_gmt":"2023-07-31T12:30:46","slug":"justin-sun-net-worth","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/bitcoin-investors\/justin-sun-net-worth","title":{"rendered":"Justin Sun Net Worth, Crypto and NFT Investments"},"content":{"rendered":"

Justin Sun is well-known as the founder of Tron and an advisor to Huobi. The net worth of Justin Sun is estimated to be around $200 million. His wealth was estimated to be around this based on his crypto holdings. According to his public wallet<\/a>, the net worth of Justin Sun is dominated by his holding of Ethereum, Tron, AVA, MATIC, BNB, and many others.<\/p>\n

\"Justin<\/p>\n

Justin Sun as a tech entrepreneur invested in projects like Tron, BitTorrent, Poloniex, and Huobi. He started investing in BTC between 2010 to 2013. He was compelled to flee China for holding an ICO a few days before an impending ban by the Chinese government. Sun held the ICO days before the ban came into play with Binance CEO, Changpeng Zhao tipping him about the proposed ban. It was then that speculations about his relationship with the Binance CEO first surfaced.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are various reports that attempt to link a relationship between Justin Sun and Changpeng Zhao. In 2019, the rumors intensified when the two went on a vacation. Though Changpeng Zhao downplayed the rumor, claiming the vacation was only a business trip. Justin Sun is presently facing a lawsuit by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for selling unregistered tokens.<\/p>\n

Justin Sun’s Net Worth<\/h2>\n
\n\n\n\n
Year<\/th>\nNet Worth<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
2023<\/td>\n$200 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

Early Life<\/h2>\n

Justin Yuchen Sun was born on July 30, 1990, in Xining, Qinghai, China. He grew up in China but relocated to America later on. Due to that, he holds an American citizenship. He enrolled at Peking University in 2007, one of the foremost institutions in China. Peking University played a significant role in numerous intellectual movements in China. In 2011, Justin Sun graduated from Perkin University bagging a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in History. Similarly, Justin Sun became a cover figure for Yazhou Zhoukan in 2011.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thereafter, he proceeded to Pennsylvania State University. He earned a Master of Arts degree in East Asian studies from the University of Pennsylvania in 2013. Also, he studied at Zhejiang Hupan Entrepreneurship Research Center belonging to Jack Ma. During his time at the University of Pennsylvania, Justin Sun learned about Bitcoin. Then, he invested in Bitcoin, and even at some point, Justin Sun paid his tuition from the returns of the investment.<\/p>\n

During this period, he had started creating a name for himself as a crypto enthusiast. His active role In the crypto space earned him an employment opportunity with Ripple. In 2013, Ripple Labs employed Justin Sun as a chief representative and adviser. By that virtue, he became the first employee of the firm in the region of Great China. However, Justin Sun had the spirit of an entrepreneur burning in him. His solidity and courage provided him with the confidence to establish several businesses. This earned him due recognition as an innovative young entrepreneur.<\/p>\n

In 2014, he founded a social media platform known as Peiwo. The platform is regarded as a Chinese voice-based social networking app. It shared a similar concept with Snapchat. Remarkably, the application gained massive recognition among youth in China earning it more than 10 million downloads. The success of this application earned him recognition as a Davos Global Youth Leader in 2014. More so, in 2015, China Network Television named Justin Sun as its “Most Noteworthy New Entrepreneur.” His fame grew across the globe, most especially in Asia. Between 2015 to 2017, Forbes listed Justin Sun on its list of “ Asia 30 Under 30” high-achieving entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n

Tron Project<\/h2>\n

In 2017, Justin Sun founded the Tron Blockchain. The network launched alongside its native token TRX. In September 2017, Justin Sun organized an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) for the TRX tokens. Meanwhile, the event was held under a dark cloud due to news about an impending ban on ICOs by the Chinese government as a result of its general crackdown on cryptocurrency. Then, the Chinese government termed ICO as an avenue for financial fraud, pyramid schemes, and other illegal and criminal activities.<\/p>\n

However, Justin Sun held the ICO shortly before the ban came into play. According to reports, Sun had first-hand information about the proposed ban, thus compelling him to schedule the ICO early to beat it. Everything worked as intended as Justin Sun realized roughly $70 million from the ICO. Afterward, like most crypto businesses in China then, Justin Sun relocated his business to the United States. Reports indicated that the CEO of Binance, Changpeng Zhao (CZ)  hinted Justin Sun about the ban. CZ himself got to know about the ban due to his connection. There are numerous efforts to establish a kind of closeness between Justin Sun and Changpeng Zhao. However, the latter has, on numerous occasions, downplayed sharing any personal ties with the former.<\/p>\n

During the ICO, 15.75 billion TRX were allotted to private investors, while initial coin offering participants were offered 40 billion TRX. In addition, the Tron Foundation got 34 billion TRX, while Justin Sun got 10 million. Through this distribution system, about 45% of the token supply went allocated to the project and its founder. This method was criticized for favouring the founding team more. They argued that no founding team of any crypto project enjoyed much token allocation like that of TRX. It is worth mentioning that the net worth of Justin Sun gained much weight owing to the TRX token allocated to him. In fact, the success of the project placed him among notable names In the crypto industry.<\/p>\n

Initially, the TRX tokens were deployed on the Ethereum network, therefore making them ERC-20 standard. The tokens switched to the Tron network in 2018. Tron surfaced as a project with the desire of recognizing the full ownership rights of content creators over their virtual works. Consequently, the network aims to incentivize content creators and encourage them to create more. The TRON blockchain claims to have a network strength that can process 2,000 transactions per second.<\/p>\n

In 2018, Justin Sun through the TRON Foundation acquired BitTorrent. At this point, the project gained massive attention in the crypto market. By 2019, the TRON network recorded a market cap of $1.6 billion. During that period, the net worth of Justin Sun gained a significant boost. However, several reports alleged that Justin Sun through his TRON and BitTorrent team ran an insider trading scheme on TRX through its Beijing office. They alleged that Justin Sun employed David Labhart, a lawyer and a member of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) compliance team to help him evade legal troubles. David Labhart worked with the firm for a while but later resigned owing to a disagreement with Justin Sun.<\/p>\n

In March 2023, the SEC filed a lawsuit against Justin Sun and Tron for selling unregistered securities. This is in reference to the sale and promotion of Tronix (TRX) and BitTorrent (BBT) tokens. In the lawsuit, the regulator alleged that TRON and its CEO engaged in Wash trading. Also, top celebrities like  Akon, Ne-Yo, Austin Mahone, Soulja Boy, Lindsay Lohan, Jake Paul, and Lil Yachty were sued too. The SEC charged them for promoting the tokens without explaining that they were sponsored. All of them excluding Soulja Boy, and Mahone settled out of court with regulators without admitting or denying the charges. Though, they paid $400,000 each as a fine.<\/p>\n

BitTorrent and Poloniex<\/h2>\n

The success of Tron provided Justin Sun with the financial backing of acquiring BitTorrent (Rainberry). In June 2018, he completed the purchase of BitTorrent for $140 million. BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer communication platform. The firm (Rainberry) that created BitTorrent was founded in 2004 by Bram Cohen and Ashwin Navin. The company was sold to Justin Sun due to the financial crisis that ravaged it. <\/span><\/p>\n

As reported, at the first executive meeting involving some BitTorrent executives which Justin Sun retained, the tech entrepreneur referred to his team members as Mao Generals. He referred to himself as General Mao. The claims triggered uneasiness among those present owing to how General Mao Generals were killed.<\/p>\n

Under the leadership of Justin Sun, BitTorrent launched its utility token, BTT. The token was launched on the Tron Blockchain, employing its BRC-20 standards. The idea of designing a utility token surfaced due to the number of users BitTorrent had then. According to reports, the platform had about 100 million users as of when the token was launched.<\/p>\n

In 2019, Justin Sun acquired Poloniex from Circle through an Asian consortium of Investors. At first, Justin Sun denied acquiring the exchange. Later on, he admitted his involvement in the deal. Though, he argued that it was part of his investment group. During this period, the reputation of Poloniex was ruined by pump-and-dump groups on Telegram and Discord manipulating the exchange’s market. Thereafter, Justin Sun moved Poloniex’s headquarters to Seychelles due to the soft crypto regulation in the country.<\/p>\n

Initially, the cryptocurrency exchange was founded in 2014 by Tristan D’Agosta. Shortly after it was established, it attracted many users because it offers trading options on a variety of tokens. In 2018, Circle acquired the exchange for $400 million before selling it to Justin Sun’s consortium. At some point, reports revealed that Justin Sun relaxed KYC regulations to attract new users and projects. Also, it was alleged that Justin Sum demanded the ownership of misplaced customers’ funds that were mistakenly sent to the wrong addresses.<\/p>\n

USDD Stablecoin<\/h2>\n

In April 2022, Justin Sun revealed plans to launch an algorithmic stablecoin known as Decentralized USD or USDD. The tech entrepreneur noted at that time that it would require an automated balancing system that burns $1 worth of TRX to mint 1 USDD. Due to that, Justin Sun established the Tron DAO Reserve. The body is saddled with the responsibility of managing the stablecoin and ensuring it maintains its peg. Later, On May 12, the stablecoin launched fully with 116,720,006 USDD released for circulation.<\/p>\n

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📢 #USDD<\/a>, as the decentralized algorithmic stablecoin based on #TRON<\/a>, has been officially launched and entered into circulation!
It is also available on #Ethereum<\/a> and #BNBChain<\/a> now. <\/p>\n

🔥 Together we witness the #StableCoin<\/a> 3.0 era led by #USDD<\/a> is coming!https:\/\/t.co\/CZjLJt7KSW<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/msI8CNgvnk<\/a><\/p>\n

— USDD (@usddio) May 5, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n