Table of Contents
Topline
Crypto billionaire Justin Sun, known best for his controversial blockchain platform Tron and his connection to President Donald Trump, will be the next super-wealthy tourist to go to space after paying $28 million for a seat with Blue Origin.
Justin Sun.
Gareth Brown for Forbes
Key Facts
Sun, 34, on Monday announced he would be one of six crew members on Blue Origin’s NS-34 mission alongside several other businessmen, a meteorologist and a British philanthropist.
The announcement comes four years after Sun paid $28 million for a seat on Blue Origin’s first-ever crewed spaceflight alongside founder Jeff Bezos, but had to back out due to scheduling conflicts, the company said at the time.
Sun, who was born in China but now a citizen of Saint Kitts and Nevis, is facing civil charges in the United States for fraud and market manipulation, but his SEC lawsuit was paused earlier this year when the Trump administration dropped virtually all of its lawsuits and investigations against alleged crypto violators.
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What We Don’t Know
When Sun will go to space. No date has been set for Blue Origin’s NS-34 mission, the 14th human flight for the New Shepard program, but the company said a date will be announced “soon.”
Crucial Quote
“Proud to join Blue Origin’s NS-34 mission and continue encouraging youth to pursue their dreams in science and space!” Sun said Monday.
Who Will Be On Blue Origin’s Next Spaceflight?
In addition to Sun, Blue Origin will take five other tourists to space with the NS-34 mission: real estate investor Arbi Bahal, Turkish businessman Gökhan Erdem, venture capitalist James Russell, Puerto Rican meteorologist and journalist Deborah Martorell and Lionel Pitchford, founder of a nonprofit and orphanage in Nepal.
Key Background
Sun, known for his publicity stunts, is one of the most polarizing personalities in the crypto industry. He has a sprawling crypto empire, anchored by the Tron blockchain he founded in 2017. He later acquired the crypto exchange Poloniex and peer-to-peer file-sharer BitTorrent, and is also associated with crypto exchange HTX. In March 2023, Sun was charged with fraud for allegedly manipulating the market for Tron’s TRX token by wash trading, the process of buying and selling tokens simultaneously to amp up the impression of active trading. He was also accused of offering and selling TRX and BitTorrent (BTT) tokens as unregistered securities, and of paying celebrities to promote tokens on social media without disclosing they were paid endorsements. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has called Tron a “preferred choice for crypto money launderers” in Asia, and it has allegedly been used in Chinese Ponzi schemes. Former employees sued Sun for alleged labor violations and harassment in 2020. The suit later went to arbitration.
Tangent
Sun’s ties to Trump have deepened since he financed the $30 million needed to launch the Trump family’s crypto venture, World Liberty Financial weeks after Trump’s re-election, which ignited a buying frenzy. Sun later invested another $45 million, 75% of which went directly into Trump’s pocket, according to a disclosed stipulation. Sun then invested in the president’s meme coin, $TRUMP, and generated an estimated $400 million for the Trumps while netting himself very little. Months later, the Trump administration paused the SEC investigation against him.. In April, Trump launched a stablecoin, called USD1, pegged to the U.S. dollar and in June, Sun announced his blockchain Tron had started minting USD1, which directly benefits World Liberty Financial based on the interest earned by the stablecoin’s reserves. In July, he said he was buying another $100 million worth of $TRUMP. Sun told Forbes he’s been an admirer of Trump since he was in middle school and learned vernacular English watching “The Apprentice.”
Surprising Fact
Sun is best known for spending $6.2 million on a modern artwork featuring a banana duct-taped to a wall. Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan created the conceptual work and it sold to Sun at a Sotheby’s auction in New York in November. He later ate the fruit.
Forbes Valuation
Sun is worth an estimated $8.5 billion and was the 383th richest person in the world as of Tuesday.
