Original authors: Sleepy, Kaori, Peggy, BlockBeats
On June 16, 2025, it was reported that Justin Sun will take TRON public on Nasdaq through a reverse merger. According to public information, the transaction involves $100 million in funding, warrants, and convertible preferred shares with a complex capital structure. After the transaction, SRM will be renamed "Tron Inc." and begin holding TRX as a strategic corporate asset. Justin Sun himself will join the company as an advisor.
The vehicle for this transaction is a US-listed company called SRM Entertainment, with the transaction structure and financing arrangement orchestrated by New York-based boutique investment bank Dominari Securities.
The reverse acquisition of SRM Entertainment is not unprecedented for TRON and Justin Sun. Previously, the crypto space had already sparked a capital frenzy of "going public to buy crypto". Many crypto capital groups have aggressively absorbed listed shell companies through reverse mergers, turning them into financial tools for hoarding cryptocurrencies and driving up prices. From Bitcoin to SOL, ETH, and XRP, Justin Sun watched everyone playing this game and finally couldn't resist joining in.
[The rest of the translation follows the same professional and accurate approach, maintaining the original meaning while translating into fluent English.]Last weekend, SharpLink Gaming submitted an S-3ASR registration statement to the US SEC, authorizing the resale of up to 58,699,760 shares related to PIPE financing. This means that over 100 PIPE investors can choose to sell their shares. Momentarily, the market misinterpreted this as "PIPE investors have started to sell," and panic quickly spread, causing its stock price to plummet nearly 70% after hours.
XRP Strategic Reserve: Ripple Army No Longer Wants to Be a "Cult Coin"
The last to enter this reserve narrative is the long-standing crypto asset XRP, once labeled a "cult coin". With the SEC lawsuit gradually settling and Ripple's compliance path becoming clearer, XRP is gradually breaking free from past public opinion constraints and being redefined as a "low-volatility, high-liquidity" practical reserve asset.
In late May, Webus International launched a $300 million financing plan, using XRP to build a global payment network targeting the Southeast Asian market. Webus is a Hong Kong-based tech enterprise long focused on cross-border payment systems and transaction infrastructure.
Subsequently, VivoPower International PLC announced the completion of a $121 million private placement, with funds to be used to construct an enterprise-level treasury mechanism centered on XRP. VivoPower is a clean energy company headquartered in London and listed on NASDAQ, long serving the Middle Eastern and Australian markets. On June 12, Trident announced an XRP treasury financing plan of up to $500 million and appointed Chaince Securities LLC as a strategic advisor.
Make America Great Again, Justin Sun Hugs Trump's Leg
On the evening of May 22, 2025, 220 crypto investors gathered at a golf club by the Potomac River for a lavish dinner with Trump and enjoyed the "magnificent Potomac River view", with entry tickets being the official Trump meme coin $TRUMP they held.
At this banquet, the top 25 investors received a private VIP reception with Trump, and the top four investors were given limited edition "Trump Tourbillon" watches. As the top TRUMP holder, Justin Sun was one of the guests to receive this gift.
The most viral video from the dinner came from Justin Sun. As the "number one big brother", he thanked Trump on the podium for everything he has done for the crypto industry, saying: "Just 100 days ago, they were hunting down crypto people everywhere. We couldn't have held such a grand event in Washington. All crypto people gathering in the US to do crypto things is the best thing I could have imagined in my life".
In November 2024, just three weeks after Trump's re-election, Justin Sun announced a $30 million investment in WLF, soon followed by an additional $45 million. According to the agreement, 75% of subsequent funds would flow directly into the Trump family account. Subsequently, Trump issued the meme coin $TRUMP, which Justin Sun also participated in subscribing to.
After the transaction, benefits quickly emerged: Sun was appointed as a WLF advisor. In early 2025, after Trump took office, the SEC successively withdrew investigations into exchanges like Coinbase, Kraken, and Robinhood, and "paused" the lawsuit against Justin Sun himself.
Justin Sun had also appeared on the TOKEN2049 conference stage in Dubai with Trump's son Eric Trump, laying the foundation for subsequent deep collaboration between the WLFI project and the TRON network.
Financial technology advisor Zennon Kapron said that Justin Sun and Trump have many similarities. "In a way, Sun and Trump can be said to be of the same type: they both like telling stories, like creating big scenes, and enjoy the process of attracting attention. Their trajectories beginning to overlap is not surprising."
Justin Sun's efforts to "get close" to Trump actually began during Trump's first term.
In 2019, after winning the lunch with Buffett, Sun publicly invited Trump, who was still skeptical about crypto at the time, to join. "Mr. President, you've been misled by fake news. #Bitcoin and #Blockchain are precisely America's best opportunities!" he wrote on social media, "I promise, after this meal, no one will understand crypto better than you!"
However, Trump did not accept the invitation. Six years later, Justin Sun became Trump's "honored guest".
From investing in WLFI, supporting $TRUMP, attending the presidential dinner, to now leading a "MicroStrategy-like" public listing path, Justin Sun has exchanged a series of bold bets for near-dramatic returns. In this game spanning crypto, capital, and politics, the story of Sun and the presidential family is far from over.
