Justin Sun, the billionaire founder of cryptocurrency platform Tron, will finally travel to space on Blue Origin’s next tourist flight. This comes four years after he won a $28 million charity auction for a seat on the company’s first crewed mission.

From Record Auction to Space Flight

Sun made headlines in June 2021 when he placed the winning $28 million bid for a seat on Blue Origin’s inaugural crewed flight. However, he didn’t reveal his identity as the winning bidder until December 2021. The massive sum went to Blue Origin’s Club for the Future foundation, which distributed grants to 19 space-focused charities.

The original plan called for Sun to fly in 2022 with five companions he dubbed “space warriors.” Those plans fell through, and the flight was repeatedly delayed. Sun’s space journey gained new momentum in May 2025 when he posted on social media from inside a spacecraft training simulator, hinting that “big things” were coming.

The NS-34 Mission Details

Sun will be joined by five other passengers on the upcoming flight. The crew includes Arvinder Singh Bahal, a real estate investor who has visited every country in the world, and Gökhan Erdem, a Turkish businessman and space enthusiast. Puerto Rican meteorologist Deborah Martorell, who has won eight Emmy Awards for her science reporting, will also be on board.

Meet the New Shepard NS-34 crewSource: @blueorigin

The mission will also carry Lionel Pitchford, an English teacher who has run an orphanage in Nepal for over 30 years, and James Russell, who previously flew on Blue Origin’s NS-28 mission in November 2024.

The flight will last about 11 minutes total, taking passengers past the Kármán line—the internationally recognized boundary of space at 62 miles above Earth. Passengers will experience several minutes of weightlessness and see Earth from space before landing back in the Texas desert.

Blue Origin’s Busy 2025

This year has been active for Blue Origin’s space tourism program. The company has already completed three crewed missions in 2025, including the high-profile NS-31 flight in April featuring an all-female crew with celebrities like Katy Perry and Gayle King.

Blue Origin has now flown 70 people to space across its various missions since beginning human flights in 2021. The NS-34 mission will add six more to that total.

Legal Troubles and Political Connections

Sun’s path to space became complicated by legal issues. The Securities and Exchange Commission sued him in March 2023, accusing him of market manipulation and selling unregistered securities related to his Tron and BitTorrent tokens. The SEC charged eight celebrities, including Lindsay Lohan and Jake Paul, for promoting Sun’s tokens without disclosing their paid partnerships.

These legal problems appeared to resolve themselves after Donald Trump became president. The SEC agreed to pause its lawsuit against Sun in February 2025. This came after Sun invested heavily in Trump-related cryptocurrency projects.

Sun poured at least $75 million into World Liberty Financial, a crypto platform backed by Trump’s family. He also became the top holder of Trump’s $TRUMP meme coin, spending over $20 million on the digital token. This investment earned him a seat at a private dinner with President Trump in May 2025, where he received a Trump-branded gold watch reportedly worth $100,000.

Financial Impact and Controversy

Sun’s investments in Trump-related crypto projects have raised eyebrows among ethics experts. His $30 million investment in World Liberty Financial triggered a provision allowing Trump-affiliated entities to collect 75% of the platform’s revenue. Combined with his meme coin purchases, Sun’s actions have generated an estimated $400 million windfall for the Trump family, according to Forbes analysis.

Critics have called the arrangement a form of “pay-to-play” politics, where foreign investors can buy access to the U.S. president. Sun holds citizenship in St. Kitts and Nevis, making him a foreign national under U.S. law.

Democratic lawmakers have raised concerns about the potential for corruption, with Senator Elizabeth Warren noting the timing between Sun’s investments and regulatory relief from the SEC.

Why It Might Matter And What’s Next

Blue Origin plans to announce the specific launch date for NS-34 soon. The company will provide a live webcast starting 30 minutes before liftoff, allowing the public to watch Sun’s long-awaited journey to space.

For Sun, this flight represents more than just a personal achievement. As the founder of a major cryptocurrency platform, his space journey could bring additional attention to the growing intersection between digital assets and space exploration. This might also serve as a bullish signal for TRON. He has positioned himself as a bridge between the crypto industry and mainstream acceptance, particularly through his political connections.

The mission will make Sun the first major cryptocurrency industry leader to fly with Blue Origin, though not the first to reach space—that distinction belongs to Bitcoin mining executive Chun Wang, who flew with SpaceX earlier in 2025.

---

Filed under: Bitcoin - @ July 23, 2025 12:10 am