Justin Sun Joins Research Project at Communist Party School
Justin Sun, the founder of the Tron blockchain, is participating in a research project at the prestigious Central Party School, the higher education institution that trains cadres of the Communist Party of China.
Sun is “transferring from business to school,” he said on his WeChat and Weibo accounts, a statement some took to imply he’s thinking of winding down his business activities.
He will become a deputy leader in a research project on blockchain-based social governance, according to a Tuesday joint press release with the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology.
The 30-year-old said he hopes to be the next Jianzhang Liang, referring to a Chinese internet entrepreneur and CEO of travel platform Trip.com who retired from his executive position in 2016 aged 47.
In a subsequent tweet, Sun said he is not planning to retire.
The project was approved by the Central Party Committee to consider the advantages of blockchain in social governance and look for innovative applications, the statement said.
Chinese reporter Colin Wu tweeted that Sun will not actually retire, but aims to show he has a good relationship to China’s ruling party.
The announcement met with support from some Weibo users, who saw it as motivated by nationalist sentiment: “Brother Sun can’t stand the plight of the American Empire and will come back to build socialism with us,” wrote a user identified only as “The banner of Marx.”
The research project team includes members from the People’s Bank of China, Central Cyberspace Administration – China’s internet watchdog – as well as scholars from CAICT, the China Information Association, Tsinghua University, and Peking University.
UPDATE (JULY 27, 11:08 UTC): Adds comment from Sun.
