The last time Justin Sun set foot in the U.S. he was Grenada’s WTO ambassador and was navigating the rocky waters of former President Biden’s crypto crackdown.
Times have changed. Now, he’s dining at an event hosted by President Donald Trump for the largest holders of his TRUMP memecoin and celebrating a regulatory breakthrough, as issuers eye a potential Tron ETF, signaling a striking reversal in crypto’s American fortunes.
Speaking exclusively with CoinDesk after the Presidential dinner, which was met by protestors, the Tron founder dismissed allegations that the token is a vehicle for bribery. He called skeptics short-sighted, arguing Trump’s embrace of crypto could spark a new era of digital asset innovation in America.
“All the haters need to really pay attention,” Sun told CoinDesk, describing Trump’s support for crypto as one of the President’s best decisions.”There are positive things happening in the industry.”
Sun’s relationship with Trump’s affiliated crypto ventures stretches back to just after last year’s election, when he bought up to $75 million worth of World Liberty Financial tokens across multiple tranches.
Shortly after Trump took office, his Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) paused a civil fraud case against Sun, alongside crypto exchange Binance; the SEC also withdrew from or dropped a dozen other cases, though it just filed a fresh civil fraud lawsuit against Unicoin earlier this week. And earlier on Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Department of Justice, which pursues criminal cases, had been investigating the Tron founder since 2021.
Read more: Where All the SEC Cases Are
Justin Sun at the $TRUMP memecoin dinner (Tron)
He described the dinner as a clear sign the U.S. is regaining its status as the crypto’s global hub, marking a sharp reversal from the Biden administration’s war on the industry, which had previously prompted crypto firms to consider offshore moves.
“At the Trump dinner, some supporters told me they were thinking of leaving the U.S. because of the Biden administration, moving to places like Hong Kong or Singapore,” Sun said. “Even Consensus started holding events outside of the United States.”
“But now they’ve changed their minds. It brings everybody back into the U.S.,” he continued.
Criticism of Trump’s decision to launch a memecoin has come fast and furious from mainstream media, including attempts to link holders of the token to white nationalism.
Sun dismissed this criticism by emphasizing that critics have every right to express their views under the First Amendment.
‘Memecoins have merit’
While protesters met the memecoin faithful who attended the TRUMP dinner, skepticism about meme coins isn’t limited to outsiders.
At a fireside chat during Consensus 2025, Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy described meme coins as essentially “gambling,” questioning their longevity.
“I get why people like it,” Portnoy said. “It’s a form of gambling, it’s a Ponzi scheme. I don’t mean that in a negative way.”
Sun disagrees. Rather than viewing meme coins as gambling or Ponzi schemes, he positions them as legitimate segments of digital asset markets.
Sun pointed to tokens like DOGE and SHIB as examples of success stories that have helped onboard users into crypto. He emphasized that Tron’s goal is to support “every single piece in crypto to grow and become mainstream.”
“I totally think memecoins have merit,” Sun told CoinDesk. “It’s just like doing business. Some succeed, some go to zero. That’s entrepreneurship.”
UPDATE (May 23, 06:15 UTC): Adds details on Sun’s previous investigations and additional background.