Sun Xue has become a sensation.

In early 2026, a nearly ten-year-old book suddenly appeared on the WeChat Reading Hot List—"This World Is Both Cruel and Gentle," authored by Justin Sun.

Almost simultaneously, various social media platforms both domestically and internationally began intensive discussions about "Sun Yat-sen Studies." This perfectly illustrates the saying circulating online: in the past, people scoffed at him; now, they are trying to study him frame by frame.

When exactly did Sun's reputation begin to reverse? Was it when he first invested in BTC and Tesla more than a decade ago? Was it when he publicly showcased Xiaomi's robot dog on social media two years ago and made a large bet on Xiaomi? Or was it when he came down from space last year and pumped up TRON and $HTX...?

Yes and no. This collective reversal is more like a backflow of the spirit of the times: when certainty recedes and the path to advancement becomes blurred, people begin to look back and examine those who survived or even triumphed in the chaos.

Sun Xue's rise to fame is itself a signal.

"This World Is Both Cruel and Gentle" ranked second on WeChat Reading's Rising Star List.

The essence of Sun Xue is to win.

Some jokingly call Justin Sun the "phoenix of the cryptocurrency world," while others dissect his experience as an "extreme methodology for making money." Still others try to find a reusable survival logic from his controversies and comebacks.

Through rounds of discussion, deconstruction, and reinterpretation, Sun Xue gradually took shape.

Even Justin Sun himself joined in. He wrote on social media: "The essence of Sun's philosophy is winning. You will become a winner, no matter where you are on Earth, no matter what era you live in, no matter what kind of family you come from."

Justin Sun expressed his views on "Sun Studies" on social media.

If we only look at the results, it's easy to overlook one fact: Justin Sun did not enter the crypto world from a secure starting point.

Coming from an ordinary background, gaining admission to Peking University through an essay competition, almost every crucial choice afterward was a high-risk gamble. Studying in the US, returning to China to start a business, and going all-in on the crypto industry were not, in essence, "safe solutions."

Especially after entering the cryptocurrency world, he did not face favorable circumstances.

Sudden changes in regulatory policies, drastic fluctuations in industry cycles, project skepticism, and prolonged media attacks... At many critical junctures, most people would have chosen to quietly withdraw and preserve their existing achievements.

But Sun Yuchen never left the card table.

Even during what appeared to be the most unfavorable period, he continued to push things forward—continuing to develop projects, build the ecosystem, and maintain his presence. Among these actions, the most controversial and symbolic was his decision to enter Huobi HTX.

This brings us to Justin Sun's investment philosophy.

Do the right thing in the future

Traditional business textbooks emphasize asset allocation, risk hedging, and preserving and increasing wealth. However, in Sun Yat-sen's philosophy, the true essence of investing is understanding the future, comprehending the future, and focusing on the future.

In 2013, he leveraged his investments and went all in on Bitcoin; when Tesla's market capitalization was less than four billion US dollars, he bet on Tesla stock, and his personal assets exceeded ten million.

In 2014, he advocated not buying a house, a car, or getting married before the age of 30, but instead devoting the vast majority of his time, money, and energy to self-improvement, personal growth, and spiritual freedom. This philosophy remains sharp even across time.

In 2016, he became the "first post-90s knowledge influencer".

Sun Yuchen in his youth in "This World Is Both Cruel and Gentle"

Since entering the crypto world, he has always been seizing the initiative in the narrative: founding the TRON public chain (2017), acquiring the phenomenal decentralized social platform Steemit (2020); purchasing Picasso's famous painting "Reclining Nude with a Necklace" and turning it into an NFT (2021); entering Huobi (2022) and building the Dominic Metaverse (2023); promoting the establishment of HTX DAO and proposing the concept of the People's Exchange (2024); cooperating deeply with the Trump family, deploying stablecoins such as USD1, and launching the Chinese decentralized contract trading platform Sun Wukong (2025)... From DeFi, NFT, Metaverse to RWA and stablecoins, his technology may not be the strongest, but he wants the market to know that he is always doing the most cutting-edge and amazing things.

Justin Sun said, "Don't be bound by the current stock; keep your eyes on growth and do things that are right for the future." He has really been doing just that.

In Justin Sun's view, Huobi is not just a simple exchange, but a strategic chessboard that can support innovation and ecosystem experiments. Here, he continues to practice "doing the right thing in the future," letting the market and users see that continuous planning and long-term commitment are more likely to win than short-term conservatism.

Therefore, it's not hard to understand Huobi's achievements today: the number of registered users worldwide has exceeded 55 million, with 6 million new registered users expected by 2025, and the annual cumulative trading volume reaching approximately US$3.3 trillion... New and old users, including institutional users, are returning in full force.

In the new year, Justin Sun has released a new "winner" signal: stay active, pay attention to AI, space exploration, and space computing, and do what interests him.

Alien Dimensional Reduction Attack

At this year's World Economic Forum in Davos, Elon Musk was asked whether aliens exist on Earth. He laughed and replied, "If anyone knows anything about aliens, it's probably me." He then added, "I might be that alien."

This is certainly a joke, but a joke works because it is not entirely fictional.

In cutting-edge fields like space, energy, and artificial intelligence, Musk's position is already beyond most people's comprehension. His way of seeing the world is not entirely the same as that of "earthlings."

Interestingly, similar metaphors also appear in Justin Sun's narrative.

Ten years ago, Justin Sun said, "With the continuous maturation of technology today, we will evolve from humans into aliens and achieve our goals through dimensional reduction attacks."

The concept of "dimensional reduction attack" originates from Liu Cixin's science fiction novel *The Three-Body Problem*, referring to an attack method in which aliens use a "two-dimensional foil" to reduce the solar system from three-dimensional space to two-dimensional space. In the business world, the core of dimensional reduction attack lies in breaking through the original competitive dimensions of an industry and reshaping the market landscape by reconstructing the rules.

In Sun Yuchen's case, the aliens' dimensional reduction attack relied on two "meals"—one was a lunch with Buffett that cost $4.56 million, and the other was a banana that cost $6.2 million.

In 2019, Justin Sun's record-breaking bid for a charity lunch with Warren Buffett caused a global uproar. In the eyes of the mainstream financial world, Buffett is the embodiment of value, rationality, and long-termism; while in the crypto world, Justin Sun represents radicalism, speed, and traffic. When he forcibly placed the fringe narrative of crypto into the center stage where Buffett resides, the conflict itself became the content.

The same logic is even more evident in the "sky-high price banana" incident.

Maurizio Cattelan's work "The Comedian," with its banana stuck to the wall, is an absurd deconstruction of "value" within the art world. Justin Sun's purchase of it for 45 million RMB and his public consumption of it takes this deconstruction to its extreme.

He understood the underlying logic of the crypto world all too well: in cryptocurrency and meme culture, value doesn't depend on the object itself, but on the consensus and topics it embodies. He knew perfectly well that he wasn't buying art, but a ticket to global headlines.

The bananas are gone, but the symbol "Justin Sun ate $6.2 million" remains. He transformed what was originally a highbrow circle belonging only to art critics and collectors into a popular entertainment topic that even old men on the street can talk about.

This is Sun Yuchen's style of "dimensional reduction attack".

While most people are still bound by concerns about face, rules, and traditional value judgments, he, like an "alien," follows only a simple algorithm: where there is attention, there is value. As it turns out, in the attention economy, this simple and direct approach is often the most effective .

Sun Yuchen won the bid for "Comedy Actor" for 45 million RMB and ate it in public.

The cost of stability

In recent years, for many young people, the "stability" of "passing the civil service exam" has been packaged as an almost morally correct choice: a stable job, a stable income, and a stable career path. It means predictability and social acceptance.

However, Sun Yuchen pointed out sharply a decade ago that so-called stability is not only a false proposition, but also often brings devastating blows to those who rely on it for growth. He said, "I would rather die in the wilderness where I can freely forage for food than live a life of comfort in a birdcage." Instead, he plunged into a path of "wild growth".

Thus, we see a Justin Sun who decisively ventured overseas in 2017, a Justin Sun who is deeply embroiled in public opinion yet always stands in the spotlight, a Justin Sun who publicly pursues debts from Hong Kong trust institution FDT, a Justin Sun who is the youngest Chinese astronaut, a Justin Sun who drinks and chats with the US president ...

The more savage the place, the bigger the stage becomes.

Justin Sun uses his own experience to prove that young people need to abandon the pursuit of "stability," ignore the incomprehension and obstruction of those around them, and bravely embrace uncertainty. Because uncertainty is a crucial breeding ground for financial freedom. And financial freedom means not having to compromise your values for money—whether it's selling your time, attention, emotions, or dignity.

" Sun Xue" is not isolated.

It aligns perfectly with Fukuzawa Yukichi's concept of "civilization as the liberation of individuality": one must first achieve spiritual independence before social status and wealth have any meaning. It also echoes the recurring theme in *Atlas Shrugged*: only those who bear responsibility are qualified to talk about freedom.

Justin Sun poses for a photo with his childhood picture after going into space.

Unyielding spirit is the last line of defense.

In all the discussions about "Sun Yat-sen Studies," the most easily overlooked point is that his methodology can be imitated and his narrative can be copied, but the mental structure that does not collapse in dire straits is almost impossible to transplant.

After founding TRON, challenges came one after another: sudden changes in regulatory policies, cyclical industry crashes, project skepticism, and prolonged public criticism. He didn't disappear into silence; instead, he updated his daily progress on social media, even if it was just a few words. And who remembers his late-night Huobi onboarding diary? He simply absorbed all the pressure, then channeled it into a driving force that made him even more powerful.

Even Zeng Ying, the legendary "rumored girlfriend" in the martial arts world, who calls herself the chief disciple of Sun Yat-sen, commented on him like this: "During the time I was with him, I never saw him lose control of his emotions for even a second... What I liked about him at that time was his almost obsessive 'unyielding willpower' and the powerful vitality that could still burst forth in desperate situations."

Sun Xue, in fact, represents an extremely clear-headed realism:

The world is cruel because it takes no responsibility for anyone's emotions;

The world is kind because it still rewards those who understand the rules and are willing to bear the consequences.

I sincerely hope that those who keep making fun of Justin Sun will one day listen to him seriously discuss a problem in its entirety, and see how he dissects reality and makes long-term bets.

You don't necessarily have to like him, but you can hardly deny that he is a person who thinks seriously.

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