Author: Rhythm BlockBeats

"I measure a person by how much money they've made." These were the words spoken by Justin Sun eight years ago during a speech, when he returned to China to embark on his entrepreneurial journey.

It's not just something he said, but something he has practiced too. Beginning in 2014 as the legal representative of the "Peiwo App," the pragmatic and almost cold-blooded Justin Sun harbored a dream of building a commercial empire. He aimed to leverage the rules, mobilize resources to the maximum extent, and ultimately win the game for himself.

Eight years later, Justin Sun has indeed achieved what is arguably the ultimate dream of nearly every entrepreneur—going public.

His most recent deal, valued at $100 million, involved a publicly listed U.S. company named SRM Entertainment. Through a reverse merger, TRON successfully went public on NASDAQ. At 35, Justin Sun is now the head of a publicly traded company, and this 1990s-born entrepreneur has a portfolio of seven or eight other enterprises and projects worth mentioning.

Justin Sun's Blockchain Empire

TRON: Justin Sun's First High-Stakes Bet in Crypto

Justin Sun joined Ripple's China team in 2013 as an ambassador, a role through which he accumulated his first bucket of gold and built invaluable connections within the blockchain space. Leveraging these resources, he soon conceived the idea of starting his own business and set his sights on making it big in the blockchain sector.

Fast forward to 2017, Ethereum had already gained significant traction within the industry. Fresh from celebrating his 27th birthday, Justin Sun put aside his previous social networking app operations and rallied a few fellow alumni from Peking University. Backed by prominent investors, and with a burning ambition to "re-enter the crypto space," he launched the TRON (TRX) public blockchain project.

Fortuitously, the TRX token's launch and ICO raised approximately $400 million successfully. Unfortunately, the "9.4" regulatory crackdown on ICOs soon followed. Chinese project teams and exchanges were caught in the storm, scrambling to exit the space and swearing off blockchain ventures for generations.

During this dire period, Justin Sun returned ICO funds to investors. The initial core team behind TRON disbanded almost completely, and many partners left due to safety concerns. Reflecting on those times, Sun admitted: "Of my six years of entrepreneurship, the first three were practically wasted."

The turning point came in April 2019 when Tether decided to issue a TRC-20 version of USDT on the TRON network. From then on, TRON firmly centered its efforts on promoting and popularizing USDT. This strategic move laid the foundation for TRON's current market valuation, with 99% of its value attributed to this decision. "In no time, the USDT issued on the Tron blockchain will become the world's largest stablecoin," Sun predicted at the time. Years later, this statement has turned into reality. A significant share of global on-chain USDT transfers relies entirely on the TRON network to function smoothly.

Data Source: DefiLama

Latest on-chain data reveals that USDT now accounts for over 98% of the total transaction volume and gas consumption on the Tron network. In other words, Tron's on-chain activity is almost entirely sustained by USDT "injecting life." Every USDT transaction typically incurs a fee ranging from $0.3 to $8. Based on current statistics, Tron's daily on-chain revenue exceeds $2.1 million, translating to an annualized income of $770 million, the majority of which originates from high-frequency USDT transfers. Daily transactions surpass 2.46 million, with an average transaction fee of approximately $0.85, closely matching the actual cost of transferring USDT.

As of now, Tron’s total market cap has reached $26.96 billion, surpassing Mixue Ice Cream & Tea (Chinese brand "蜜雪冰城"), firmly positioning it among the leading global public blockchains and securing its role as a core player in stablecoin on-chain circulation.

BitTorrent’s “Sentimental Acquisition”

In the summer of 2018, beyond founding Tron, Justin Sun made a move that seemed even more "out of the box" at the time—he acquired the now "outdated" downloading tool BitTorrent for $140 million.

BitTorrent, a name likely familiar to many born in the '80s and '90s, was born in 2001 and became the world's first widely adopted P2P file-sharing protocol. At its peak, approximately 40% of global internet traffic was transmitted via the BitTorrent protocol. In an era before centralized internet platforms dominated, BitTorrent essentially embodied an entire generation's imagination of "download freedom."

For Justin Sun, however, this was more than just a "nostalgic acquisition." Acquiring the BitTorrent client was merely the beginning—his true ambition was to blockchainize the entire BitTorrent protocol, giving this legacy P2P network a “rebirth.”

Not long after the acquisition, Justin Sun launched the BTT token, adhering to the TRC-10 standard, alongside the release of the "BitTorrent Speed" project. With this innovation, users could pay BTT to achieve faster download speeds when downloading torrents; meanwhile, uploaders were incentivized to seed files by earning BTT rewards.

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

As of now, the circulating supply of BTT totals 986 trillion tokens, priced at approximately $0.00000068, with a market cap of roughly $670 million. The 24-hour trading volume hovers around $10 million, translating to an annualized trading volume exceeding $2.6 billion. Although it remains about 78% below its historic peak ($0.00000304 in January 2022), in today's meme coin-dominated market, such performance can be considered fairly average.

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

For quite a long time, Justin Sun's secondary venture in the crypto space has been cryptocurrency exchanges. He has two exchanges under his belt: Poloniex and HTX.

Let's talk about Poloniex first. This veteran exchange was initially acquired in February 2018 by crypto startup Circle for $400 million. At the time, Circle aimed to turn it into a compliance leader but couldn't sustain the effort for long. In October 2019, Poloniex separated from Circle with the backing of an Asian investment consortium and Justin Sun, transitioning into deeper collaboration with TRON. This included initiatives in TRC20-USDT stablecoins, DeFi, and a TRON-dedicated section, among others.

Fast forward to June 9, 2022, Justin Sun made another move. Alongside Poloniex's parent company "Poloniex Federation" and several prominent investment firms, he officially acquired Poloniex. The platform's Chinese brand was directly renamed to "TRON Exchange." This acquisition was perceived as the solution to the TRON ecosystem's "lack of an exchange" shortfall, marking TRON’s entry into a dual-engine strategy of "blockchain + exchange." As of now, Poloniex processes daily trading volumes of approximately $500 million.

Later the same year, in October 2022, Justin Sun set his sights on another veteran trading platform—Huobi.

Sun initially joined Huobi Global's advisory board as a Global Advisor, announcing plans to propel Huobi’s internationalization and upgrade the HT token ecosystem. Shortly after, there was a significant reshuffling of Huobi's executive team. Ultimately, Justin Sun, via the Hong Kong-based asset management firm About Capital, acquired Huobi's equity for $1 billion, taking the helm of the platform. Today, Huobi maintains its status as one of the top 10 cryptocurrency exchanges globally, boasting a daily trading volume of $2.4 billion. The platform's native token, HTX, is currently priced at $0.29 with a market capitalization of $47 million.

Source: coingecko

In February 2018, Poloniex was initially acquired by blockchain startup Circle for $400 million. By October 2019, backed by an Asian investment group and Justin Sun, the platform broke away from Circle and collaborated with Tron in various areas such as the TRC20-USDT stablecoin, DeFi (Decentralized Finance), and TRON-specific trading zones. This helped Poloniex transition from being North America-focused to becoming a global platform.

On June 9, 2022, Justin Sun, the founder of TRON, announced the acquisition of the well-known exchange Poloniex in collaboration with Poloniex Reserve and several prominent investment institutions. At the same time, Poloniex launched its TRON-based trading platform as its flagship brand for the Chinese-speaking community. This acquisition addressed the lack of a trading platform within the TRON blockchain ecosystem, marking the official initiation of TRON's dual-engine strategy of "blockchain + trading platform."

In October 2022, Justin Sun joined Huobi's Global Advisory Board and announced plans to expand Huobi Global's strategic initiatives, focusing on international branding and enhancing Huobi Token (HT) operations. Shortly after, several Huobi executives resigned, and Justin Sun, through his Hong Kong-based asset management firm About Capital, acquired Huobi's shares for $1 billion, becoming its de facto controller.

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

USDD, TUSD, and WBTC

In addition to public chains and exchanges, USD-pegged stablecoins and wrapped Bitcoin are also indispensable elements in Justin Sun’s business layout within the crypto space.

USDD, TUSD, and WBTC—three tokens closely associated with Justin Sun—represent his key assets in the realms of stablecoins and cross-chain interoperability.

Starting with USDD, this decentralized stablecoin was personally initiated by Justin Sun and is issued and managed by the Tron DAO Reserve. According to the most recent data, USDD currently has an on-chain market cap of approximately $432 million, ranking around 10th among stablecoins by market value.

Data Source: CoinMarketCap

Let's talk about TUSD. Although TUSD is not officially listed as Justin Sun's personal asset, on-chain evidence and fund flow analysis strongly suggest his shadow ownership. Since 2023, TUSD has become a critical liquidity support token for the TRON ecosystem and HTX (formerly Huobi). However, this chess piece is not without risks: TUSD has experienced multiple depegging events due to controversies surrounding custodianship and audits, and it has faced lawsuits from the SEC. In 2024, Binance delisted its major trading pairs, and by 2025, it was completely delisted in the EU following the implementation of the MiCA regulation, with only a withdrawal channel remaining. To stabilize the situation, Justin Sun had to personally inject over $400 million in early 2025, effectively securing TUSD as a stablecoin firmly tied to his name. Currently, TUSD’s market capitalization is $492.6 million.

Data Source: CoinMarketCap

Lastly, there’s WBTC (Wrapped Bitcoin), an ERC-20 token issued on the Ethereum network. Proposed in 2017 and officially launched with a whitepaper in 2019, its value is pegged 1:1 to Bitcoin. Every WBTC is backed by an equivalent amount of Bitcoin held in reserve and managed through custodial institutions (currently BitGo) to ensure that WBTC holders can redeem their tokens for Bitcoin at any time.

Although WBTC is not a project directly under Justin Sun’s control, it has been viewed by some international media as a key component of the TRON stablecoin ecosystem that he indirectly controls, branding it as a "Justin Sun-controlled Wrapped Bitcoin." Related reading: "Why Did Justin Sun’s Involvement in WBTC Cause Such a Market Stir?"

According to the latest data from CoinMarketCap, WBTC's market capitalization stands at $13.784 billion, making it one of the largest Bitcoin-pegged assets globally.

Data Source: Coinmarketcap

DLive: Justin Sun Also Has a Streaming Platform?

Compared to previous projects, DLive might be more niche.

Initially, DLive was a decentralized streaming platform built on the Lino blockchain. By late 2019, it was acquired by BitTorrent, and the entire team and tech stack transitioned into the TRON ecosystem.

Behind this integration lies another strategic move by Justin Sun in the "content platforms + blockchain" approach. DLive incorporated BTFS (BitTorrent File System) for decentralized storage, while BTT tokens were used for tipping content creators and incentivizing content distribution. This created a closed-loop system where content creation, storage, tipping, and revenue sharing all operated on-chain. Additionally, the platform shared a unified user account system with BitTorrent, uTorrent, Steemit, and other platforms, making BTT the "universal token" within this content ecosystem.

As a result, DLive once attracted top-tier global streamers like PewDiePie, with its monthly active users steadily growing, becoming one of the most trafficked content hubs in the TRON ecosystem. However, its lenient community management policies also sowed seeds for potential risks.

Top global streamer PewDiePie live streaming on DLive

In early 2021, DLive faced heavy criticism from public opinion and regulators after users streamed the U.S. Capitol unrest on the platform, raising questions about its content moderation and risk control mechanisms.

Art Arsenal: APENFT Marketplace

When it comes to Justin Sun’s identity, beyond being a businessman, he is perhaps best known as a passionate art collector. He owns a long list of world-class artworks: original pieces by Picasso, Andy Warhol, Giacometti, and Basquiat have all found their way into his collection. Most recently, his $6.2 million purchase of an artwork featuring a single banana shot him to the top of trending discussions once again.

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 bridge the gap between traditional art and the NFT world through this platform. The core mission of APENFT is straightforward: on one hand, acquiring top traditional art pieces and NFT works as underlying assets, and on the other, incubating young NFT artists, providing them with support and exposure. At the same time, the platform sponsors galleries, organizes exhibitions, establishes awards, and supports art criticism and research, offering the global art community a new blockchain-based pathway.

To ensure better security for on-chain art, APENFT adopts a dual-layer technological foundation with Ethereum and TRON. Ethereum is used to support smart contracts and global recognition, while TRON complements high throughput and low gas fees for practical applications. Justin Sun's other early venture, BTFS (BitTorrent File System), has also been integrated to provide decentralized storage, ensuring that art files remain accessible, immutable, and protected from single-point failures.

From 2021 onward, the APENFT Marketplace officially launched as an NFT marketplace based on the TRON network, primarily responsible for digitizing these top-tier art pieces and fractionalizing them into NFTs, enabling global users to hold "fractional ownership of collections." In 2022, Justin Sun spent tens of millions of dollars acquiring artworks such as "The Digital Zodiac Heads," "The Nose," and "Reclining Nude with Necklace," which were directly donated to the APENFT Foundation to bolster its position in the digital art space.

Leveraging the traffic from the TRON community, Justin Sun's personal influence, and the TRON network's ultra-low transaction fees (as little as under $1), the APENFT Marketplace quickly attracted a significant number of creators and enthusiasts. Sun further emphasized that all transaction fees collected on the platform would be 100% used for buybacks and the burning of platform tokens, alongside various events like speed contests and hackathons, making the NFT space highly dynamic and engaging.

Currently, the market capitalization of the platform token $NFT on APENFT Marketplace stands at $420 million.

From TRON to BitTorrent, from Poloniex to HTX, and then to stablecoin "cash pools" like USDD, TUSD, and WBTC that can instantly mobilize on-chain liquidity, coupled with the APENFT Marketplace as this "blockchain art museum."

In less than a decade, Justin Sun has refined his business empire in the crypto world into a fully-fledged ecosystem spanning public blockchains, exchanges, stablecoins, NFTs, cross-chain solutions, and even international politics.

Behind this seemingly decentralized yet tightly interconnected network, and based on data that Rhythm BlockBeats could uncover, the core assets under Justin Sun's control have already exceeded a market valuation of $43 billion USD.

Now, with a $100 million acquisition of SRM Entertainment, Justin Sun has propelled TRON onto the NASDAQ stage via a backdoor listing. His strongest leverage, however, might stem from the warming network of ties with the Trump family.

Justin Sun’s Love-Hate Relationship with the United States

Justin Sun's connection with the United States dates back to his days as a student at the University of Pennsylvania.

In 2011, while pursuing a master’s degree in East Asian Studies, he filled his electives with courses on investment strategies, entrepreneurial management, and venture capital at Wharton School. During his spare time, he co-founded the video program "Three Musketeers Studying Abroad," which captured the essence of international student life, gaining massive popularity on platforms like Youku, Bilibili, and YouTube, even making its way into discussions on CCTV.

It was also during this period that Justin Sun first encountered the concept of Bitcoin through Reddit and university tech communities. Compared to today’s $100,000-level prices, Bitcoin back then was practically a bargain, trading around $10. He began small investments, gradually increasing his stake over time.

By the end of 2013, Justin Sun abandoned his plans for further studies in law and joined Ripple Labs, becoming one of the earliest promoters of the Ripple protocol in China. In 2014, he returned to China, securing IDG Capital's investment to launch Raybo Technology. Despite going through several industry challenges like the ICO bans, team disbandment, fleeing overseas, and being labeled the crypto world’s "Jia Yueting," he managed to persevere.

However, in the eyes of the Biden administration, Justin Sun has always been regarded as an "on-chain troublemaker."

In 2023, the U.S. SEC officially filed a lawsuit against him, accusing him of price manipulation for TRX and BTT and the illegal sale of unregistered securities. Even the celebrities who endorsed his projects, including Akon, Ne-Yo, Soulja Boy, Lindsay Lohan, and Jake Paul, faced fines. As a result, he has been unable to enter the United States for years.

Justin Sun is well aware that in the ever-changing dynamics of American politics, no loss is permanent, and no chapter cannot be rewritten. For him, the 2024 election might just be the perfect turnaround opportunity.

Back when old-school Wall Street financial giants were tentatively dipping their toes into cryptocurrencies and U.S. politicians were locked in heated debates over crypto regulations, Justin Sun had already laid his groundwork silently. "I have long believed that President Trump would bring a lot of positive influence to the cryptocurrency space. Once he was elected, the entire crypto world underwent a refreshing transformation," he once said in an interview.

The Trump family has boldly placed bets on the cryptocurrency industry and even personally participated in the World Liberty Financial project. Over the course of late last year and early this year, Justin Sun invested a total of $75 million into the project, earning the title of "Top Supporter" and subsequently being appointed by the Trump family as the project's core advisor.

Justin Sun's HTX platform naturally became the first to list WLFI's new stablecoin USD1. Acting as both advisor, funder, and platform provider, Sun closed the loop by also acquiring a massive share of Trump Tokens ($Trump), emerging as the largest holder with 1.43 million tokens, valued at around $23 million.

Not long after, the Trump organization officially announced an exclusive dinner for the top 220 $Trump token holders. Justin Sun was quick to post on social media, revealing that he had become the largest holder. Reportedly, Trump attended the dinner for only half an hour, while the latter part of the event became almost entirely Justin Sun's personal showcase. Many online commenters jokingly referred to it as the "Justin Sun Dinner."

Justin Sun was presented with a gold watch at the Trump dinner as the largest holder of Trump Tokens

"I am the bridge between the crypto industry and the President, and to some extent, perhaps also a bridge for future U.S.-China communication," he mentioned in an interview. "My original intention is to establish a strong relationship with the Trump family and introduce more people from the traditional world into the blockchain space. We will have long-term, ongoing collaboration with President Trump's cryptocurrency initiatives to drive broader growth and advancement within our entire industry."

Left: Justin Sun; Right: Donald Trump Jr.

For an entrepreneur, aside from the numbers in their account, the thing they care most about is freedom. Compared to CZ, who paid a staggering $4.4 billion fine just to regain the freedom to enter and exit the U.S., Justin Sun's cost was minimal.

Thus, Justin Sun seemed quite elated upon his return to the U.S. He toured multiple locations and businesses, while also posting numerous tweets expressing his "admiration" for Donald Trump.

From being a "prime suspect" chased by the FBI and the SEC, to now showing off a gold watch gifted by the president at the White House, Justin Sun has embedded himself into this crypto-political banquet in the manner he knows best. The story seems to have reached its climax.

But for Justin, who is deeply obsessed with making money, it's highly unlikely he's planning to stop anytime soon.

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