The SEC dismissed all charges against Tron (CRYPTO: TRX) founder Justin Sun and related entities on March 5, with Rainberry paying a $10 million civil penalty to settle the 2023 lawsuit.
The Settlement Terms
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York entered a Final Judgment dismissing all claims against Sun, the Tron Foundation, and the BitTorrent Foundation.
Rainberry, formerly BitTorrent Inc., was ordered to pay a $10 million civil penalty to the SEC.
The dismissal is with prejudice, meaning the regulator cannot bring the same claims again.
The settlement includes no admission or denial of wrongdoing. Rainberry agreed to a permanent injunction barring future violations of certain securities laws.
Sun responded on X: “Today’s resolution brings closure, but I never stopped building. I will continue to focus on accelerating innovation in the United States and around the world and look forward to working with the SEC to develop guidance and regulations for crypto going forward.”
The Original Allegations
The SEC filed its lawsuit in March 2023, accusing Sun and affiliated entities of violating federal securities laws.
Regulators alleged TRX and BTT were unregistered securities distributed through bounty programs, airdrops, and secondary market offerings.
The SEC also accused Sun of orchestrating wash trading to inflate TRX’s market activity and paying celebrities to promote the tokens without proper disclosure.
Eight celebrities including Lindsay Lohan and Jake Paul were accused of illegally touting TRX and BTT tokens.
Six celebrities settled for $400,000 in disgorgement, interest, and penalties without admitting fault. Soulja Boy and Austin Mahone did not settle.
The Trump Connection
Since President Trump took office, the SEC has dropped several lawsuits against prominent crypto institutions including Binance (CRYPTO: BNB), Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN), and Uniswap (CRYPTO: UNI).
In February 2025, the agency requested a stay in the Tron case to explore potential settlement.
Sun made massive investments in Trump family-backed crypto initiatives, including purchasing at least $75 million of World Liberty Financial’s WLFI (CRYPTO: WLFI) and $100 million of the TRUMP (CRYPTO: TRUMP) memecoin.
Sun was later invited to a Trump gala dinner and awarded the “Trump Golden Torbillon.”
At times, World Liberty has held multi-million dollar TRX positions. Three U.S. House Democrats accused the SEC of retreating from crypto-related enforcement in January, highlighting the Sun case while noting crypto companies donated at least $85 million to Trump’s reelection campaign.
TRX Price Update
TRX is trading flat right at the 50 EMA ($0.28605). The descending trendline from the $0.37 peak continues capping rallies.
Critical resistance sits at $0.29 and the 200 EMA at $0.29181. Support sits at $0.27 with ultimate backstop at $0.26.
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