Prologue
In the autumn of 2025, as Blue Origin's rocket tore through the atmosphere, sending Sun Yuchen into the weightless cosmos, the world's perception of him was at a subtle critical point.
On the ground, he was the defendant in the SEC indictment, the most controversial 'public enemy' in the crypto world, a symbol wrapped in public opinion flow and speculation. But beyond the ground, a 'financial Cthulhu' built by his own hands was surging with over a hundred billion transactions in every capillary of global finance.
This space journey was both a long-awaited coronation ceremony and a moment of reflection. It presented Sun Yuchen's two lives — the defendant in the eye of the storm and the architect of the new world — in an unprecedented way.
1. Defendant's seat (eye of the storm)
In March 2023, when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announcement of a lawsuit spread globally, many felt that the era of noise and controversy belonging to Sun Yuchen was coming to an end. Each word in the announcement — 'fraud', 'market manipulation' — seemed to seal his public image: the embodiment of the 'original sin' of the crypto world, a financial speculator skilled in making empty promises and hype. The story seemed to be flipping to the last page, but a new chapter was just beginning.
In the eye of the storm, Sun Yuchen remained unusually calm. He did not engage in heated debates on social media but instead released a brief, restrained statement. Less known is that he was orchestrating the most thrilling and successful capital operation in the history of the crypto world through encrypted video conferencing.
At that time, the crypto industry was at its 'darkest hour' after the FTX collapse, trust was shattered, and liquidity was nearly exhausted. He had just taken on the role of global advisor at the exchange Huobi (later rebranded as Huobi HTX), which was like a leaf boat swaying in the storm. Everyone thought he had chosen the most dangerous moment to support a faltering platform.
However, Sun Yuchen showed a cold and precise side as a strategic advisor. Under his primary suggestion, HTX's focus was not on market manipulation but on rebuilding trust. Huobi HTX publishes important data such as 'Merkle Tree Reserve Proof' every month, transparently showcasing the platform's asset status to all users. This 'suicidal' act of transparency later became the cornerstone and standard configuration for the entire industry to rebuild trust.
He firmly believes that after panic, what people crave most is not false prosperity, but real security. This suggestion has proven to be correct. While other exchanges were struggling with bank runs, funds quietly flowed back to this most honest platform like a tide.
At that moment, the outside world first vaguely realized that the Sun Yuchen they thought would only manipulate public opinion, his true weapon might not be rhetoric, but a profound insight into human nature and the flow of capital.
2. The Invisible Empire
Out of the public eye, Sun Yuchen had long been quietly playing the role of 'creator of the new world order.' He is obsessed with building infrastructure, those tedious, complex, but crucial underlying rules that determine the life and death of an ecosystem.
The first pillar is a freely flowing value network.
He never tried to package TRON as the most cutting-edge public chain, but instead built it into a 'highway'. His goal is clear to the point of being dull: to infinitely lower transaction costs.
While the industry is keen on discussing various profound consensus algorithms, he only cares about one thing: how to reduce the cost of transferring $1 on-chain for a young person from the third world from $10 to $0.01.
By 2024, the power of this highway was fully revealed, as TRON, with its unparalleled low fees, became the largest stablecoin circulation network in the world, quietly becoming an 'institutional tool' for millions to hedge against real-world risks.
The second pillar is a world-class asset issuance and trading center.
After stabilizing the situation, under Sun Yuchen's advisory influence, Huobi HTX transformed from a mere 'exchange' to a 'hub for asset issuance and liquidity'. Through its investment division HTX Ventures, it launched a series of Web3 incubation and investment plans, screening potential startup projects globally.
Unlike traditional platforms, Huobi HTX not only provides funding but also a complete set of ecological services: from underlying technical support and token economic model design to the initial user traffic introduction. Huobi HTX is no longer a 'landlord' waiting for projects to come to collect rent, but has become an 'incubator' for new species.
The third pillar is a channel of influence leading to the future.
While the entire crypto industry was trying to please the establishment in Washington, Sun Yuchen again went against mainstream views: embracing the Trump family. In 2024, he keenly captured that with the American elections approaching, the political force represented by Trump was viewing cryptocurrencies as an 'anti-establishment' banner against the existing financial system to attract young voters. He decisively bet his resources and industry influence on this emerging political wave.
He began to interact publicly with the Trump family in the crypto field, attending Trump's dinner. At this point in the game, he was no longer the 'diplomat' trying to seek a place under the old world rules, but had transformed into the crypto think tank behind a new political force. He exchanged real money and massive community influence for a ticket to the future center of power.
Sun Yuchen attends a dinner with Trump
When the three pillars were in place like the huge roots of Yggdrasil, people suddenly realized that under the cover of controversy, Sun Yuchen had quietly built a massive digital economy based on TRON's value network, with HTX, where he provided consulting advice, as the strategic hub, connecting to channels of influence leading to the future.
3. Looking back from space
In the autumn of 2025, when Blue Origin's rocket sent Sun Yuchen into suborbital space, people's views of this 'Brother Sun' were quietly changing.
Whether in controversy or in boldness, this 'Brother Sun' is building infrastructure for humanity's path to the future in his own way. Once a defendant, he has now become an undeniable business leader.
In the weightless cabin, Sun Yuchen gazed out of the window at the blue planet. What he saw was no longer the borders on a map, but an invisible network covering the globe, composed of data flows.
Sun Yuchen takes a photo in space with his childhood photo
On this blue planet, a USDT from Country A is being paid to a freelancer in Country B through the TRON chain; a small startup team, with the support of Huobi HTX, is building the next application that could change the world; and on the desks of some political figures, there may be his proposals in the drafts concerning the future cryptocurrency regulatory framework.
Everything he built was operating in real-time on that planet, affecting the lives of countless people at a rate of millions of times per second. This was a god-like perspective, a great satisfaction for an architect gazing at his masterpiece.
After returning from space, he became more pragmatic, expressing the view of promoting improvements in the industry as an 'industry consultant'. He seems to be trying to play a new role: bringing order and rules to a world he created with his own hands, which is growing wildly.
He remains a seasoned capital player, but his game table has expanded from merely the crypto market to the grand chessboard of the global economy. He is still a creator of a new world order, but he has begun to think about how this new world can coexist and integrate better with the old world.
Sun Yuchen's story is one about how controversy can become the best camouflage, and how ambition can create reality. He has proven over ten years that it is possible not only to survive in the eye of the storm but also to build. As for whether what he has built is a lighthouse to the future or his own Tower of Babel, perhaps only time will provide the final answer.
