Founder of Tron Consultant for the Trump Crypto-Project

World Liberty Financial's team says Justin Sun's experience and expertise could prove useful.

The founder of the blockchain Tron, Justin Sun, has become an advisor to World Liberty Financial, a crypto project backed by Donald Trump and his three sons. The project team announced this, noting that Sun's experience and expertise could prove useful.

"We are honoured to welcome Justin Sun as an advisor to World Liberty Financial (WLFI)! Justin's knowledge and experience will be invaluable as we continue to innovate and grow," the statement read.

World Liberty Financial aims to create a crypto platform for lending. It is built on the Ethereum blockchain and uses the largest lending protocol on the market, Aave.

Sun, a Chinese entrepreneur and University of Pennsylvania graduate, is one of the most prominent and active figures in the cryptocurrency industry. In 2017, he founded the Tron blockchain, which powers many cryptocurrencies using the TRC-20 standard, including the native token TRX, which ranks 11th among major coins with a market capitalisation of $17.1 billion.

Almost half of the largest stablecoin by market capitalisation, Tether's USDT, is issued on the TRON network: $61 billion out of a total of $132 billion. Transactions on this network have a low cost, which explains their popularity among USDT users.

In 2018, Sun integrated the BitTorrent file-sharing protocol into the Tron ecosystem and subsequently became an advisor to the cryptocurrency exchange HTX (formerly Huobi), which now ranks 13th in terms of trading volume. Journalists have repeatedly referred to Sun as the exchange's owner, despite his formal role on the board. According to several sources, Sun makes de facto management decisions at HTX and speaks publicly on behalf of the platform.

On 26 November, Sun announced the purchase of USD 30 million in WLFI tokens from crypto project World Liberty Financial. At the same time, the entrepreneur emphasised that the US is becoming a hub for blockchain thanks to Trump.

The WLFI tokens are only available to accredited investors, and the crypto-asset is only intended for management participation, offering no financial incentives. In mid-October, Trump personally announced the sale of the WLFI tokens. In the first day of the sale, the project raised $11 million.

In announcing Sun's joining as an advisor to World Liberty Financial, the project team mentioned that it had recently purchased Maurizio Cattelan's iconic modern artwork, Comedian, at a Sotheby's auction: a banana taped to the wall. Previously, the cryptocurrency exchange Binance had launched futures trading on the BAN token, created in honour of Comedian.

A Bridge Between Blockchain and Politics

This collaboration demonstrates how blockchain technology is becoming increasingly popular in business and political circles. The Trump family's attempt to leverage new technology to increase their power and strengthen their brand is reflected in their cryptocurrency initiative. Sun's involvement could offer the technical know-how and global network necessary to ensure the project's success.

What Does This Mean for Tron?

Tron sees this partnership as an opportunity to become better known and respected in traditional areas. As the use of blockchain increases, collaborations like this could help bridge the gap between established industries and decentralised finance.
It will be interesting to see how this collaboration develops in the coming months, given the controversy and potential surrounding this project.