Justin Sun Net Worth 2023: How Rich is the Founder of TRON?

The estimated net worth of Justin Sun is $1.1 billion, which takes into account crypto assets in his publicly known crypto wallets. However, Justin Sun’s net worth is likely even higher, as that figure doesn’t account for private investments or assets held in private accounts.

Who is Justin Sun?

Justin Sun is a Chinese crypto entrepreneur best known as the founder of the TRON network. Image source: SCMP

Justin Sun was born on July 30, 1990, in the Qinghai province of China, Sun is the founder of TRON and one of the most prolific cryptocurrency businessmen in the world. After receiving his B.A. in History from Peking University and an M.A. in East Asia Studies from the University of Pennsylvania, Sun was selected as the most noteworthy new entrepreneur by CNTV in 2015. That same year, through 2017, Sun was featured on Forbes China’s elite list of 30 Under 30.

In 2017, Sun founded a blockchain DAO ecosystem designed to compete with Ethereum for supremacy in the DeFi and dApp space, known as the TRON network. Later, he went on to establish multiple other businesses, and played a major role as an investor in major companies such as BitTorrent, Poloniex, and HTX (formerly known as Huobi). 

With over 3.4 million followers on Twitter, Sun is one of the most well-known and influential figures in crypto. He regularly engages with fans on social media platforms and is not hesitant to share his personal views with the broader community.

A tendency to create controversy

In 2019, Sun shocked everyone when he bid $4.57 million for a private lunch with legendary US investor Warren Buffett, only to cancel it later. He later changed his mind, and the lunch eventually took place in January 2020.

In a 2022 exposé published by The Verge, called The Many Escapes of Justin Sun, the tech publication described Sun as audacious, assertive, and for having the willingness to walk a thin line between smart investing and reckless decisions. An excerpt from the article reads:

“Brash and outspoken, TRON founder Justin Sun has always been a controversial figure in crypto.”

What is Justin Sun’s net worth in 2023? Examining the TRON founder’s crypto wallets

According to blockchain analytics platform Arkham Intelligence, Justin Sun has a whopping $1.1 billion worth of crypto assets in his publicly known cryptocurrency wallets. His largest holding is WSTETH, which is essentially a token representing staked ETH coins. His second largest holding is the USDD stablecoin, of which he owns just over 300 million. Justin Sun’s other significant cryptocurrency holdings include USDJ, TRX and BTT.

Justin Sun’s crypto portfolio as of October 2, 2023. Image source: Arkham Intelligence

Here’s a breakdown of Justin Sun’s biggest holdings, according to data from Arkham Intelligence:

It is worth noting that Justin Sun’s net worth is likely even higher than the contents of his publicly known crypto wallets. The $1.1 billion figure doesn’t account for his non-crypto assets, and he could also have wallets that haven’t yet been tagged as belonging to him.

Of course, there is also a chance that Arkham Intelligence has mistakenly tagged certain wallets as belonging to Justin Sun, as it’s difficult to attribute a crypto wallet to someone with 100% accuracy unless they personally confirm it.

Still, it’s not very hard to believe that Justin Sun is a billionaire, at least on paper. Over the years, several online publications, such as Dreshare and even The Verge, have referred to Sun as being a billionaire. 

Justin Sun’s crypto ventures

Justin Sun has founded and acquired several blockchain companies over his time in the cryptocurrency sphere – some of them include:

TRON

Founded in 2017, TRON is a decentralized, open-source blockchain using Delegated Proof-of-Stake (DPoS) to reach a consensus about the state of the ledger. The network’s native coin TRX boasts a market cap of over $5 billion. Thanks to fast and low-cost transactions, the TRON chain is one of the most popular ways of transferring Tether, the world’s largest stablecoin, accounting for over half of all USDT volume.

BitTorrent

Started as a popular peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing service, BitTorrent was acquired by the TRON founder in 2018 for $140 million. The P2P protocol was later launched on the blockchain as the BitTorrent File System (BTFS), along with a TRC20-based BTT token.

USDD

Earlier this year, Sun announced the launch of USDD, an algorithmic stablecoin on the TRON blockchain. At the time, Sun said that the launch of its stablecoin represents “the third era of stablecoins.” The USDD stablecoin has failed to achieve a large market share, likely due to investors’ hesitancy to invest in a new algorithmic stablecoin following the collapse of Terra’s USTC.

Huobi

In October, investment firm About Capital, of which Sun was the core investor, acquired a $1 billion stake in Huobi. Following the acquisition, Sun became the exchange’s advisor and announced plans to revitalize the platform by empowering its native digital assets HT token. Sun has previously made an investment in Poloniex exchange as well, albeit the exact size of his investment has remained unknown.

Dominica Coin

In November, Sun and Huobi announced they would jointly launch Dominica Coin (DMC), the world’s first national token. The announcement followed earlier news that the TRON network was selected as the “national blockchain infrastructure of the Commonwealth of Dominica.” DMC will reportedly allow citizens of Dominica to apply for loans, business registrations, open and close bank accounts, and build in the metaverse.

Final thoughts

Sun is undoubtedly one of the more interesting figures in the crypto space. Following the launch of the TRON Foundation in 2017, Sun made numerous headlines both for his crypto ventures and controversial actions and statements – the latest of which was being appointed as the Permanent Representative of Grenada to the World Trade Organization. Love him or hate him, Sun is among the wealthiest individuals in the industry, boasting a similar net worth as Vitalik Buterin, who is arguably the most prominent active figure in crypto.

On a related note, check out how Tesla CEO and Dogecoin aficionado Elon Musk became the first person in history to lose $200 billion.