Spends 75 million to become Trump's "ally," then suddenly gets blacklisted and billions frozen! Sun Yuchen completely turns hostile

Written by: Accel

$75 million poured into Trump, then immediately blacklisted, billions of assets frozen! Sun Yuchen angrily confronts the Trump family, turning hostile and crashing? Where did this high-stakes gamble go wrong?

$75 million Entry Ticket

Here’s how the math adds up.

Sun Yuchen first invested $30 million in WLFI last November, when the project was just getting started, reportedly using funds designated for “initial operational costs” by the project team.

Guess what? In January this year, Sun Yuchen added another $45 million.

Together, totaling exactly $75 million.

What does that mean?

At the token price at the time, Sun Yuchen held 3 billion WLFI tokens. He was not only the second-largest external investor in the project but also served as an advisor, casually promoting the Trump family at various events.

On May 22 this year, Trump hosted a dinner at his golf club in Virginia. Sun Yuchen, holding over 1.43 million Trump coins (worth about $19 million), was definitely a “big spender,” invited to attend.

The internet exploded—“Brother Sun is buying peace with money,” “He flew from China to the US to be a top supporter.”

Sun Yuchen remained calm, posting a message saying “Honored to support the U.S. President.”

Looking back, how glorious it was then, and how disastrous it became later.

Crash upon launch

Wallet frozen with 3 billion coins

The turning point came on September 1 last year.

WLFI tokens officially listed on major exchanges.

And guess what?

On the first day, the token price plummeted from above $0.30 to $0.18, a drop of over 40%. Some data shows it fell even more sharply, nearly 60%.

Even more shocking, just days after listing, Sun Yuchen’s wallet was blacklisted by the WLFI project team.

On-chain data shows Sun Yuchen’s related wallet transferred about $9 million worth of WLFI tokens to exchanges.

The project team claimed this was “suspected price manipulation,” and directly activated the blacklist function in the smart contract, banning Sun Yuchen’s address.

How much was frozen?

Approximately 545 million unlocked tokens, plus 2.4 billion locked tokens, totaling nearly 3 billion tokens.

At the token price at the time, this involved over $100 million.

Sun Yuchen quickly responded: “This is just ‘small-scale testing and address dispersion,’ I didn’t sell!”

But the project team didn’t buy it.

Sun Yuchen continued: “I am WLFI’s largest external investor, this is unreasonable!”

The project team’s reply was even more blunt: “We don’t seek to blacklist anyone, but malicious or high-risk activities will be acted upon.”

Meaning: you are the “malicious activity.”

Seven months of silence finally exploded

After being frozen, Sun Yuchen chose to stay silent for a while.

That silence lasted seven months.

During this period, WLFI’s price kept falling, from $0.30 to $0.18, then down to $0.16.

The community was full of criticism, saying the Trump family was “using DeFi as a front for CeFi.”

Until April 12 this year, Sun Yuchen couldn’t hold back anymore.

He posted a bilingual manifesto, lambasting WLFI.

The main points were:

First, you secretly embedded a blacklist function in the smart contract without informing investors. This isn’t decentralization; it’s a trap disguised as a gate.

Second, freezing my tokens is illegal, violating basic investor rights and the fairness principles of blockchain.

Third, those so-called “governance votes” are all lies. Key information was hidden, and decisions were pre-determined, not reflecting community will but the creator’s intent.

Fourth, my $75 million investment has now shrunk in market value to just over $600k. You owe me an explanation.

The WLFI project team responded quickly: “We have the contract, evidence, and the truth. See you in court, buddy.”

Both sides officially tore into each other.

Claiming that decentralization is just a backdoor

What’s the most surreal part of this story?

It’s the phrase “decentralization.”

From day one, WLFI claimed to promote “financial freedom, removing intermediaries, benefiting ordinary people.”

Trump’s sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, repeatedly said in various settings, “We’re different; we genuinely want ordinary people to participate in DeFi.”

But what happened?

The smart contract contained backdoors; the project team could freeze anyone at will. Early investors wanting to sell tokens? Sorry, they had to pass through this gate first.

What was supposed to be decentralization turned into centralized control.

Sun Yuchen’s protest brought this issue to the forefront.

He’s not the first to be frozen, but he’s the biggest victim. His $75 million investment can’t buy him an apology—only a blacklist.

It’s a total mess

But to be fair, Sun Yuchen himself is highly controversial.

He founded Tron in 2017, then was sued by the SEC for fraud and market manipulation, fleeing to the US.

In 2023, the SEC also accused him of manipulating the Tron market through false trades, involving 600k wash transactions.

In short, he’s not exactly a saint.

So now, the community is split:

One side supports Sun Yuchen, believing WLFI’s “nominal DeFi, actual centralization” approach is nonsense, and that Sun Yuchen is standing up for retail investors.

The other side mocks, saying this is just “whales finally getting rekt,” and that Sun Yuchen isn’t a good guy either—turning hostile because he’s lost too much.

Who’s telling the truth?

Maybe both sides have a point, or maybe neither.

But one thing’s for sure: WLFI has already caused many people to lose everything.

Sun Yuchen’s $75 million investment is now down over $30 million.

The frozen tokens’ market value has dropped from $100 million to just over $40 million.

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