I just came across an interesting news story. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently proposed to dismiss the civil fraud case against Tron founder Justin Sun. This case had been dragging on since March 2023 and was finally officially concluded this March.

The background of this case is quite complicated. The SEC originally accused Justin Sun of orchestrating over 600k wash trading transactions to artificially inflate the price of TRX. However, in the settlement agreement, all charges against Justin Sun personally, the Tron Foundation, and the BitTorrent Foundation were dismissed with prejudice, meaning the SEC can no longer refile the lawsuit.

What’s most interesting is the specific content of the settlement. Rainberry Inc. (formerly BitTorrent, controlled by Justin Sun) paid a $10 million civil fine, but this money was borne by the company, not personally by Justin Sun. Moreover, Justin Sun has never admitted any wrongdoing, and the case was resolved without either admitting or denying the SEC’s allegations. In plain terms, the founder basically walked away unscathed.

A detail worth noting is that this dismissal happened after SEC Chair Paul Atkins took office. Atkins succeeded Gary Gensler and explicitly changed the SEC’s enforcement stance on cryptocurrencies. Since he assumed office, many SEC crypto cases have been withdrawn or settled.

Even more interesting is the coincidence in timing. Media reports found that Justin Sun invested $75 million in World Liberty Financial, a crypto project linked to the Trump family. Shortly after Trump’s new appointee took office, the SEC dismissed the personal fraud charges against Justin Sun. This proximity in timing has caught the attention of some analysts, though neither the SEC nor Justin Sun have directly responded to this issue.

From Tron’s perspective, this outcome is actually quite significant. Over the past three years, the TRX price has already factored in considerable regulatory risk discounts. Now, the dismissal with prejudice permanently removes that concern. For the Tron Foundation and its partners, maintaining a clean regulatory status means smoother future listings on exchanges and business collaborations.

Interestingly, some related parties, including certain celebrities, had already settled in 2023, so the resolution of Justin Sun’s case essentially marks the end of the SEC enforcement wave that started in March 2023. The market has always been quite sensitive to the outcomes of such cases. Those interested can check the TRX price movements on Gate.io themselves.