By Lauren Sarah
When H.E. Justin Sun, the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Grenada to the World Trade Organization, was announced as the winning bidder for a $28 million Blue Origin space voyage in 2021, it was clear that he planned to share the opportunity.
“I’m very excited to announce this news and turn this opportunity into a voyage with five other warriors to space with me because I believe that space belongs to everyone,” tweeted Sun.
Sun had to delay the voyage, but as the rescheduled launch date nears, the anticipation over who he will nominate to take on this historic journey is mounting. After announcing his winning bid, Sun debuted the Sea of Stars project to nominate fellow travelers and inspire participation in space tourism.
The goal of the project is to select a group of space enthusiasts with a diverse array of backgrounds and interests, including artists, entrepreneurs, and engineers. In a signal of the community strength of the Tron decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), Sun announced that one of the passengers will be a Tron DAO member.
“Our second nominee will be a Tron DAO community member with a strong passion for space. He/she could come from any industry in any job title while passionate about space and the universe,” tweeted Sun.
Justin Sun’s Commitment to the Tron Community
Justin Sun stepped down from his role as CEO of Tron in December 2021, accepting his current role as ambassador and permanent representative of Grenada to the WTO shortly after. This decision was made to facilitate Tron’s transition to complete decentralized governance, which it’s now achieved. Tron’s DAO is governed by a rotating group of democratically elected holders of Tron’s TRX token that vote governance decisions for the protocol and support its infrastructure through a unique delegated proof-of-stake consensus mechanism.
Despite Sun’s decision to step down as Tron CEO and fully decentralize the protocol’s governance, he remains an advocate for the smart contract network, the fastest-growing public blockchain. Tron currently hosts over 134 million accounts and 4,000 decentralized applications (dApps). The network supports an NFT marketplace along with an established DeFi ecosystem and the BitTorrent decentralized file-sharing platform.
In recent months, Sun has worked to spread the message of the benefits of USDD, an overcollateralized, decentralized stablecoin built on the Tron network that maintains a 1:1 peg to the U.S. dollar using a variety of assets in the Tron DAO Reserve. The decentralized crypto reserve is the first of its kind in the blockchain space.
As the founder of Tron, Justin Sun maintains a commitment to helping the community grow in several directions, with the goal of leading the way in the evolution of a decentralized Web3. Sun’s decision to bring a member of the Tron DAO community to space should draw international attention to the platform and is representative of its ambitious mission of using blockchain technology to reach new heights.
“With the rapid development of commercial aerospace, entering space may become a dream that every person can realize in his or her lifetime. We are entering the era of great spaceflight. This great journey requires more people to get involved,” said Sun in a statement on his winning bid for the Blue Origin voyage.
In addition to supporting the Tron community with the voyage, Sun’s bid will further the cause of commercial spaceflight and space tourism by supporting organizations dedicated to education in STEM fields tied to space exploration. Sun’s full bid of $28 million was donated to Blue Origin’s Club for the Future foundation, which distributed the donation across 19 charities devoted to furthering science, technology, engineering, and math education and encouraging the development of careers in the space industry.
“The initiative of Blue Origin to take more people to space to see Earth as our singular common home is extraordinary. Club for the Future offers a way to use that experience to inspire youth around the world to dream and act on their dreams of science, technology, and space exploration,” said Sun. “I felt compelled to help further that vision through my bid.”
