22
March
2023
SEC v. Justin Sun, et al.
Description: The SEC charged Justin Sun and his companies, Tron Foundation Limited, BitTorrent Foundation Ltd., and Rainberry Inc., for the unregistered offer and sale of crypto asset securities Tronix (TRX) and BitTorrent (BTT) through unregistered bounty programs and monthly airdrops. The SEC also charged Sun and his companies with orchestrating an arrangement to pay influential celebrities to promote TRX and BTT on social media without disclosure of their compensation, for which those celebrities (Austin Mahone and DeAndre Cortez Way) were also charged. The SEC alleged in its complaint that TRX and BTT tokens are securities.
The SEC’s ComplaintStatus: On June 27, 2025, the court endorsed a joint letter from the parties indicating they are engaged in ongoing discussions and expect to file another joint status report by August 26, 2025. Justin Sun attended President Donald Trump’s memecoin dinner on May 23, 2025, as the largest holder of the $TRUMP digital asset token with known connections to the Trump family, which also owns a significant minority stake in World Liberty Financial. Mr. Sun reportedly holds $30 million worth of the $TRUMP token at the time of this update (noting the value of the token is volatile and likely has since changed). On June 11, 2025, Sun announced that USD1, a stablecoin issued by World Liberty Financial, would be minted on the TRON blockchain. Updated 06/30/2025