He paid $4.57 million for lunch with Warren Buffett.
Then turned it into a $23.6 Billion empire.
Meet Justin Sun, the crypto wild child who bought lunch, headlines, and your attention.
Here’s the absurd story of how a single meal changed his life: 🧵
In 2019, Justin Sun made headlines by dropping $4.57 million to win a charity lunch with Warren Buffett.
It was the most expensive meal ever auctioned.
But for Sun, it wasn’t about steak, it was about signal.
At the time, Sun was 28.
He’d already launched TRON, a blockchain startup with a $70M ICO.
And he’d bought BitTorrent for $140M, turning it into a Web3 protocol.
Now he wanted something more: legitimacy.
Buffett was the holy grail of Wall Street respect.
By paying $4.57M for that lunch, Sun got what no crypto founder had:
A seat at the grown-ups’ table.
He delayed the actual lunch (kidney stones, he claimed). But the headlines had already hit:
“Crypto Founder Pays Millions to Dine with Warren Buffett.”
The media circus worked.
Sun turned a PR stunt into a perception shift.
When they finally met in 2020, Sun brought guests from the crypto world, including Litecoin’s Charlie Lee.
He gave Buffett a Samsung Galaxy Fold with 1 BTC and some TRX (Buffett later gave it away).
But the real gift? Attention.
Sun knew Buffett wouldn’t convert.
But he didn’t need him to.
He needed the moment. The image. The illusion of crypto and Wall Street shaking hands.
That was enough to build the next stage of his empire.
Post-Buffett, Sun went full chaos mode:
– Bought crypto exchange Poloniex
– Acquired Steemit
– Created a stablecoin (USDD)
– Allegedly helped boost TRUMP memecoin volume
– Appointed himself a “Diplomat” for Grenada and “Prime Minister” of Liberland
You can’t make this up.
He even paid $6.2M for a banana duct-taped to a wall… and ate it.
Performance art? Marketing? Troll move?
Yes.
All of it.
Today, TRON’s ecosystem is worth over $23.6 billion.
It powers stablecoins, NFTs, DeFi, gaming, and now memecoin derivatives.
And Sun? He’s planning a reverse merger IPO to take it all public.
The most absurd part?
He was under SEC investigation for fraud.
And still kept scaling.
That case is now paused.
And his empire? Still growing.
Here’s what Justin Sun understands better than most:
→ Attention is leverage
→ Narrative is capital
→ One outrageous move, played well, can bend reality in your favor
Buffett didn’t change his mind.
But Sun changed his position.
Lessons from the wildest $4.57M ever spent:
– Visibility builds velocity
– Credibility can be borrowed
– One move can reposition you entirely
Sun didn’t just buy a lunch.
He bought a storyline.
Whether you love him or hate him…
You have to admit:
Justin Sun didn’t just play the crypto game.
He hacked it with memes, diplomacy, and a dinner that changed everything.
I hope you've found this thread helpful.
Follow me @0xAbhiP for more.
Like/Repost the quote below if you can:
195.33K
548
The content on this page is provided by third parties. Unless otherwise stated, OKX is not the author of the cited article(s) and does not claim any copyright in the materials. The content is provided for informational purposes only and does not represent the views of OKX. It is not intended to be an endorsement of any kind and should not be considered investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell digital assets. To the extent generative AI is utilized to provide summaries or other information, such AI generated content may be inaccurate or inconsistent. Please read the linked article for more details and information. OKX is not responsible for content hosted on third party sites. Digital asset holdings, including stablecoins and NFTs, involve a high degree of risk and can fluctuate greatly. You should carefully consider whether trading or holding digital assets is suitable for you in light of your financial condition.