CoinDesk 2025-06-17 22:28:33

Tron Inc. Deal Gives Justin Sun’s Father Control of Public Firm Via $100M Token Deal

A Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing posted Monday night outlines the relationship between Tron DAO, Justin Sun, and SRM Entertainment, a Nevada company in the process of changing its name to Tron Inc. The filing details a $100 million private investment in public equity (PIPE) deal, paid entirely in TRX TRX tokens, that gives Sun’s father, Weike Sun, board control and positions Tron-aligned advisors in key governance roles. Weike was named chairman, while Zhihong Liu, also known as Steve Liu, a strategic adviser to Tron DAO and the CEO of stablecoin issuer Techteryx, and Zi Yang, a senior executive at Tronscan, joined the board’s audit, compensation, and nominating committees, according to the filing. The deal was structured as a private investment in public equity (PIPE) deal. An investment vehicle owned by Weike purchased 100,000 shares of SRM Series B preferred Stock via TRX tokens, convertible into 200 million common shares, and received 220 million warrants at a strike price of $0.50. Despite the appearance of alignment, Tron DAO has no direct investment, governance rights, or formal role in the SRM deal, said Liu. "Tron DAO is not really any part of the deal for SRM. It’s more of the senior Sun's transaction." The DAO itself is not mentioned in the 8K filing either. Its influence appears to be indirect, reflected through the backgrounds of newly appointed board members tied to the Tron ecosystem. According to the Financial Times , the renamed firm plans to buy and hold up to $210 million worth of TRX, similar to how MicroStrategy built a bitcoin-based corporate treasury. The deal was arranged by Dominari Securities, a brokerage affiliated with Dominari Holdings, whose advisory board includes Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump and is located within Trump Tower in Manhattan. Dominari Securities was paid $50,000 for the counsel for the transaction, according to the 8K filing. SRM, the listed Tron entity, is down 15%, trading at $7.73 as the market closed in New York. The TRX token is down 2.5%, trading at $0.27.