Meet The Crypto Billionaire Who Helped The Trumps Make $400 Million

Forbes

Justin Sun loves a publicity stunt. But in bailing out Donald Trump’s crypto venture—netting the president and his family $400 million—Sun has boosted his efforts to create a global payment system, using his Tron platform, with 300 million users and counting.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ninabambysheva/2025/03/27/meet-the-crypto-billionaire-who-just-helped-the-trumps-net-400-milllion/  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00Today on Forbes, meet the crypto billionaire who helped the Trumps make $400 million.

00:08Chinese blockchain entrepreneur Justin Sun's admiration of Donald Trump began in middle

00:13school, while he was living in Weizhou, a city of 6 million in China's Guangdong province,

00:18just north of Hong Kong. Sun's teacher encouraged his class to watch American television to learn

00:24vernacular English, so Sun tapped peer-to-peer file sharer BitTorrent, a service that years

00:29later he would own, and began downloading reruns of The Apprentice. The precocious Sun

00:36says he was captivated by the American tycoon's lessons in cutthroat competition, showmanship,

00:41and of course, ego, anathema in a society steeped in the principles of Confucianism

00:46and Chinese socialism. But it was the early 2000s, and the reforms set in place by Deng Xiaoping

00:53had opened China to capitalism, especially in booming Shenzhen, which borders Weizhou.

00:59Sun says, quote,

01:01It was natural for The Apprentice to become popular in China.

01:05So it felt like fate, perhaps now a four-letter word for opportunism, that Sun heard late last

01:11year that the Trump family's crypto venture, World Liberty Financial, or WLF, was faltering,

01:18despite the fact that the patriarch, listed as the company's chief crypto advocate,

01:22had just been elected president of the United States.

01:26World Liberty was going to be another decentralized finance platform,

01:30of which there are hundreds already, but it offered no equity,

01:33lacked credible management, and its tokens would be illiquid.

01:37The fact that the Trumps could have easily self-financed the $30 million needed to launch,

01:42but chose against it, underscored why no one else wanted to either.

01:47Donald Trump, more than three decades ago, had pivoted his empire toward using

01:51other people's money, rather than risking his own.

01:55But the 34-year-old Sun couldn't miss the potential dividends sitting in front of him.

01:59Since March 2023, Sun has been facing a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit

02:05alleging fraudulent market manipulation and selling unregistered securities.

02:10Now he had come across a way to single-handedly enrich the person

02:13about to lead the executive branch of the U.S. government, the SEC included.

02:19In late November, just three weeks after Trump's election,

02:22Sun plunked down the $30 million ostensibly needed to cover operating expenses.

02:27That $30 million ignited a buying frenzy that primarily benefits the Trump family.

02:33As if Sun's actions weren't helpful enough,

02:35a few weeks later he invested another $45 million into World Liberty Financial,

02:4075% of which went directly into Trump's pocket,

02:44per a disclosed stipulation that the Trump family takes

02:47three-quarters of everything raised above the initial $30 million.

02:52Then, when the president launched his meme coin,

02:54dollar sign Trump, in January, Sun invested a few million more.

03:00All told, Sun's actions yielded a small return for him on paper.

03:04Even worse, his entire position in WLF was locked up indefinitely,

03:08while generating an estimated $400 million windfall for the Trumps.

03:14Taking note, Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy, on the floor of the Senate in early March,

03:18said that, quote,

03:19this is essentially Trump posting his Venmo for anyone to secretly wire him as much money as they want.

03:26Sun's tributes seemingly paid off.

03:29Almost immediately, he was named an advisor to World Liberty.

03:32Then, in early 2025, after Trump took office,

03:36the SEC dropped virtually all of its lawsuits and investigations against alleged crypto-violators,

03:42including exchanges Coinbase, Kraken, and Robinhood.

03:46It would also, quote,

03:47pause its lawsuit against Sun and his firms.

03:52Such is life for crypto's most transactional billionaire.

03:55He's a pure opportunist.

03:57He has limited computer programming skills,

03:59and nearly all the entities he has created or controls

04:02have famously copied the business models of other first movers.

04:06Moving fast and copying things has made Sun extraordinarily rich, extremely fast.

04:12Like his childhood idol Trump,

04:14he apparently covets what Forbes says about his net worth

04:17and tells us his number exceeds $40 billion,

04:20including large holdings of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether,

04:23as well as fine art including a Picasso and a Warhol,

04:27plus an Airbus 330 jet.

04:29He has a dizzying maze of wallets and keeps some of his assets in other people's names.

04:35Forbes estimates Sun's net worth at $8.5 billion,

04:39with an acknowledgment that it could be much larger.

04:42But with the SEC giving him a reprieve, that number is poised to surge.

04:48For full coverage, check out Nina Bambasheva and Stephen Ehrlich's piece on Forbes.com.

04:55This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.

04:57Thanks for tuning in.

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