From SEC Defendant to Wall Street Bell Ringer, the Amazing 'Gates Grandson' Powerfully Enacts the Game of Thrones

Original | Odaily Planet Daily (@OdailyChina)

Author | DingDang (@XiaMiPP)

On July 24, Eastern Time, the crypto world will witness a landmark moment: Tron Inc. (NASDAQ:TRON) will ring the opening bell at the Nasdaq Exchange in New York's Times Square. This reverse merger to enter the mainstream capital market not only officially brings Tron into the American financial hall but also dramatically places its global advisor, Justin Sun, at the core stage of Wall Street.

Three years ago, Justin Sun, who was almost barred from the U.S. market due to an SEC lawsuit, returns to New York as the Nasdaq bell ringer. This 'wall-breaking action' across the crypto and traditional finance sectors not only announces Tron's critical leap towards mainstreaming but also reflects the turning point of crypto assets gradually penetrating the traditional system. For Justin Sun, the bell in Times Square will undoubtedly become the most metaphorical footnote in his career as a disruptor—when the hammer falls, it not only marks the prelude to a trading day but also the charge of crypto forces towards the high ground of traditional finance.

The news about TRON's backdoor listing first appeared on June 16. At that time, media outlets such as the Financial Times reported that TRON planned to achieve an indirect listing through a reverse merger with Nasdaq-listed company SRM Entertainment, with the deal orchestrated by Dominari Securities, an investment bank connected to the Trump family.

According to disclosures, SRM Entertainment signed a $100 million equity financing agreement with a private investor, intending to issue 100,000 shares of Series B convertible preferred stock (conversion price $0.50 per share, equivalent to 200 million common shares), and 220 million warrants (exercise price $0.50 per share). If all warrants are exercised, the total transaction size could reach $210 million, representing a dilution ratio of over 23 times compared to SRM's pre-transaction circulating shares of 17.24 million.

SEC filings reveal that the leader of this financing is Justin Sun's father, Sun Weike, who injected TRX assets through the PIPE model, gaining control of SRM and becoming the chairman of the board after the transaction. The original SRM board members were all replaced, with Tron's core management team entering key committees such as audit, compensation, and nomination.

Although Tron DAO did not directly participate in the transaction legally or in governance, the market widely views the entire process as a capital path choice led by TRON's actual control team. The new company plans to include TRX in its long-term strategic asset allocation, with an overall strategy similar to Strategy's financial strategy for BTC: strengthening token credit anchoring with the identity of a listed company to build a stable narrative.(Recommended reading reference《Tron merges with SRM targeting Nasdaq, Justin Sun is in the stratosphere this time》）

Behind this reverse merger transaction, there is also a clear line of power logic: the Trump family.

According to multiple sources, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump joined the advisory board of Dominari Holdings, the parent company of Dominari Securities, before the transaction was announced, each receiving 750,000 incentive shares, with 250,000 shares granted upon joining and the remaining 500,000 shares to be unlocked based on company valuation milestones. Although Eric Trump stated he would not hold a position at Tron Inc., the outside world is still full of speculation about the deeper meaning of this relationship chain.

Justin Sun's own intersection with the Trump camp is also becoming increasingly close. He is an advisor to the crypto project WLFI, led by Trump allies, and has invested $75 million to support the development of its stablecoin USD1, which has recently launched on the TRON mainnet.

In early 2025, the SEC (then with pro-crypto Paul Atkins as a commissioner) and Justin Sun's team jointly applied to suspend the lawsuit, seeking possible settlement. At that time, the SEC's charges against Justin Sun were still pending but had gradually lost political momentum.

In the following months, Justin Sun made frequent moves: appearing on the cover of Forbes English edition, hailed as the "crypto billionaire who helped the Trump family earn $400 million"; attending the Token 2049 summit with Eric Trump; becoming the top guest at the "TRUMP" token community dinner, receiving a limited-edition Trump watch; and even rumors of "only staying at Trump-branded hotels".

Behind this series of intensive interactions is the intertwining of political resources and capital tools, or perhaps the important support for TRON's entry into the U.S. stock market.

Along with the advancement of the capital path, the TRON network itself continues to show growth momentum.

On May 29, Artemis, together with Dragonfly and Castle Island Ventures, released a report pointing out that in the current stablecoin payment market, USDT dominates absolutely, with over 60% of its transaction circulation completed via the TRON network. The estimated annualized payment scale in February 2025 had reached $72.3 billion, significantly leading USDC's performance in similar scenarios, which is still in the stage of catching up in market share.

TRONSCAN data shows that as of mid-July, the total number of activated accounts on the TRON network has exceeded 320 million, with over 10.9 billion on-chain transactions and a total value locked (TVL) exceeding $24.6 billion, with stablecoin-related assets still being the main source of contribution. Among them, the current circulation of TRC20-USDT is 81.6 billion, ranking first among all chains globally; the supply of the native stablecoin USDD has increased to 500 million, showing significant growth.

From the distribution and supply of stablecoins, Tron is only slightly behind Ethereum. Compared to other public chains, the two are far ahead in terms of market share.

On the mainnet, the deflation process of TRX has also officially started. The TRON community overwhelmingly passed Proposal No. 102 on June 13, reducing the TRX block reward from the original 16 TRX to 8 TRX (a 50% reduction), and the voting reward from the original 160 TRX to 128 TRX (a 20% reduction), with the expected annual deflation rate of TRX increasing from 0.85% to 1.29%. This reduction aims to accelerate the deflation process of TRX, optimize TRON's economic model, and thus ensure the long-term sustainable development of the network.

Currently, Tron Inc. has advanced the inclusion of TRX in the listed company's treasury system and, in collaboration with asset management company Canary, submitted an application for a TRX staking ETF. If approved, TRX may become one of the core narratives of this cycle. However, the crypto market is highly volatile, and investment requires caution.

Looking back over the past two years, Justin Sun's trajectory can be described as a 'dramatic counterattack'. In 2023, the SEC sued Justin Sun and TRON, accusing them of issuing unregistered securities and manipulating market transactions, walking on the edge of the law; in 2024, betting on Trump and becoming an actual promoter of political capital; in 2025, integrating on-chain narratives while going public through a backdoor listing. Every step is taken in the cracks of the times, and every step is highly symbolic.

Rather than saying he is making a company public, it is more of an identity transformation: from SEC defendant to Nasdaq advisor, from on-chain narrator to Wall Street capital legend. Asia Weekly also featured him as a cover story again, titled 'Global Crypto Pioneer'. From a young talent with the 'dream of Peking University' in 2011 to one of the recognized Chinese leaders in the crypto industry, the amazing 'Gates Sun' is becoming synonymous with the 'new financial myth'.

But no matter the title, in this era where 'narrative is reality', Justin Sun has indeed completed the performance of an important proposition: how can crypto projects 'break into' the mainstream system institutionally?

And the bell ringing of Tron is just the first chapter of this story.