Eight months after returning from space, Brother Sun got into a fight with the presidential family.

Author: Curry, Deep Tide TechFlow

Yesterday, Tron founder Sun Yuchen posted a lengthy article on X, accusing the DeFi project World Liberty Financial under the Trump family of secretly hiding a freeze-backdoor in the token contract, treating investors as “personal ATMs.”

WLFI responded a few hours later with three words: See you in court.

Brother Sun is WLFI’s largest external investor, having invested a total of $75 million. Last September, his wallet was blacklisted by the project when the token just started trading, and tokens worth over $100 million have been frozen ever since.

Last week, WLFI used 5 billion of its own tokens as collateral to borrow $75 million, and ordinary users’ deposits were temporarily inaccessible. Some say this operation is very similar to FTX.

WLFI also claims that Brother Sun has issues, and the dispute between the two is still unresolved. However, WLFI’s token has already fallen more than 76% from its peak last year.

The scale and intensity of this battle are significant, but the most widely circulated opinion in the community is that Sun Yuchen dares to confront directly because he went to space last August.

Last August 3rd, he took a suborbital flight aboard Blue Origin’s rocket, spending $28 million for that seat, after waiting four years. The spacecraft crossed the Kármán line, stayed in weightlessness for a few minutes, then landed.

The entire flight lasted 10 minutes and 14 seconds.

After landing, he told the camera: “From space, Earth looks very small. That is our home. We must do everything we can to protect it.”

Some social media users seriously said that going to space can change a person’s thinking and perspective, which is why he dares to confront projects with backgrounds. People who have been to space see problems differently.

Can space really change a person?

Overview Effect

In 1987, a researcher named Frank White interviewed dozens of astronauts and named this phenomenon the Overview Effect.

It means that when you look back at Earth from space, seeing that thin layer of atmosphere like a varnish, and the continent without borders, certain things in your mind will change permanently.

A 2018 survey of 39 astronauts found that their perception of Earth changed significantly, and this change was highly correlated with whether they engaged in environmental protection after returning.

There is a NASA astronaut named Mike Foreman who once said famously: “If you weren’t an environmentalist before going to space, you will at least become half one after.”

But there is a rarely mentioned distinction here. Most reports of this deep cognitive change involve professional astronauts who stayed on the International Space Station for months or even half a year. They look out the window every day at Earth, witnessing hundreds of sunrises and sunsets, giving enough time for that feeling to seep in.

Paid suborbital travelers experiencing 10 minutes may have a completely different experience.

The most genuine emotional response among commercial space tourists came from William Shatner, the actor who played Captain Kirk in “Star Trek.” In 2021, at age 90, he took a trip on Blue Origin. He cried upon landing. Later, he wrote in his book that it took him several hours to understand why he was crying.

He said, “I mourn for Earth.”

But he only stayed in space for 10 minutes. After returning, he appeared on several talk shows, then life returned to normal.

The Overview Effect may not be fake. During those few minutes of weightlessness, seeing that blue marble hanging in the darkness, you might indeed feel something that’s usually inaccessible.

But an instant emotional shock and a permanent cognitive rewrite are not necessarily the same. You will be moved, you will post a sincere message, and even in the days after returning, you might feel everything is insignificant.

Then you will go back to your life, continuing to be the person you’ve always been.

Space, cannot move the asset-liability statement

Back to Sun Yuchen’s battle.

The community says he has opened his mind, changed his perspective, and that people who have been to space are different. This statement is very suitable for romantic reposts to gain traffic, but it probably doesn’t touch the core interests.

He invested several tens of millions of dollars into WLFI, had his wallet frozen for more than half a year, and watched the frozen tokens decline in value, experiencing the feeling of being a typical victim of being cut. The money he invested is now lost—would you want to defend your rights?

In his statement, Brother Sun carefully excluded Trump himself, only targeting the “bad actors” within the WLFI team, indicating he is very aware of what level of opponent he’s dealing with.

Rather than being a reckless idealist influenced by space, he is more like a big investor who wants to defend his rights after investing money.

But some say he’s not short of this money.

Hurun’s valuation of his net worth this year is 10 billion RMB, and the other side bears the name of the presidential family. Silence is the safer option. A person known for being shrewd, why choose a path that seems less smart?

When he initially invested in WLFI, he bought not just tokens but a ticket to Trump’s crypto ecosystem. However, there is another version of this story from WLFI’s perspective.

Last September, when the token just listed, there were reports that Sun Yuchen’s wallet transferred about $9 million worth of tokens to HTX, which just happened to be the exchange where he served as an advisor. At the same time, WLFI was offering a 20% annualized yield on deposits.

In the community’s view, this combination looks like a classic case of shouting “don’t sell” while secretly cashing out behind the scenes. WLFI’s response yesterday was also aimed at this, saying he “is best at playing the victim.”

Sun Yuchen said it was just a recharge test, and on-chain data shows his transfer happened after the token price dropped, not before. But that didn’t settle the controversy.

Regardless of the truth, after the wallet was frozen to this extent, the value of this relationship has essentially been wiped out.

This account doesn’t need space to understand the “Overview Effect” anymore.

Project teams can say they froze your assets as a security measure, handling it alongside phishing wallets. You are the largest investor, but now on the blacklist, you’re listed alongside scammers.

So, I think silence no longer can buy back the ticket.

Publicly speaking out, appealing to community sympathy, and exerting pressure on the other side in public opinion—each step is calculated. A shrewd person wouldn’t become reckless just because of 10 minutes of weightlessness.

When the cost-effectiveness of silence drops below zero, it’s normal to try a different approach.

Changing a person’s behavior doesn’t necessarily require space; just making him realize the consequences of that account will do.