Justin Sun, the founder of the TRON (TRX) network has pulled funds from his self-titled decentralised autonomous organisation (DAO) to advertise his own face on the side of a building.
Jon Hillis posted his thoughts on Sun’s advertising move on Twitter, declaring it “the most cringe thing” he’d seen in Web3 recently:
TRON DAO is the organisation responsible for the TRX token, the 15th largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation, and which has reportedly dedicated multimillion dollar funds for supporting development in the Web3 space.
It is worth noting that the concerns and criticisms aren’t being levelled at the TRON DAO organisation itself – it’s just that the decision to use the company’s funds to put Sun’s own face on the side of a five-storey high billboard holds true to his widespread reputation in the crypto space.
Freelance journalist and prominent Sun-sceptic Chris Dunaway describes the Tron founder as “brash and outspoken”, with the headline of one of his major articles branding him “the hype man of the century”.
Justin Sun: Let’s talk about him
As reported by Dunaway at The Verge, Sun has been embroiled in legal chaos and interpersonal drama in various countries since departing his home country of China at the height of the ICO (initial coin offering) craze back in 2017.
According to the report, Justin Sun fled regulators in China for illegally fundraising for TRON despite there being a blanket domestic ban on ICOs. Months later, after arriving in San Francisco by way of Seoul, Sun acquired the decentralised file sharing service BitTorrent in for US$140 million.
According to sources that worked alongside Sun at BitTorrent, Sun made major efforts to put a distinctive Chinese imprint on how business was done. At a meeting with the company’s C-suite executives, he stood up and pronounced himself “Chairman Mao ” and labelled all of the executives seated at the meeting “his generals”.
Sun made international headlines again in June of 2019, where after bidding US$4.57 million to secure a one on one dinner with investing legend Warren Buffett, he decided to postpone just two days before.
Despite Sun claiming on the social media platform Weibo that the delay was due to him seeking “treatment for kidney stones”, Chinese media outlet Caixin reported that Sun was placed on a restricted movement border control list by Chinese authorities for allegations including illegal fundraising, money laundering, gambling and spreading pornography.
More strangely, Sun is also now the permanent representative of island nation Grenada to the World Trade Organisation.This has allowed him to stick “His Excellency” at the front of his name, an honorary title he wears with much pride.
