Conversation with Justin Sun: From the "sky-high priced banana" to the "sky-high betrothal gift", he says this time it is absolutely not a marketing stunt.

Justin Sun has once again become the protagonist of top trending searches.

For people familiar with him, this is not surprising at all.

Over the past ten years, Justin Sun has always been one of the most topic-creating entrepreneurs in the Chinese internet industry. From the label of "post-90s entrepreneurial leader" and the founder of TRON, to his purchase of Warren Buffett's charity lunch at 4.567888 million US dollars in 2019, he has entered the public view again and again through highly communicative events. After the 2019 Buffett lunch controversy reached its climax, Justin Sun even publicly apologized, saying he felt "deeply guilty" for his behavior of "over-marketing and obsession with hype".

But Justin Sun did not stay away from the center of public discourse after that.

In 2024, he paid 6.2 million US dollars to buy the banana artwork *Comedian* by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, and eventually ate the banana, once again becoming the object of coverage by global media.

The controversies around him are not limited to marketing alone.

In 2023, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Justin Sun and his related companies, accusing them of allegedly creating the illusion of active TRX trading through wash trading, and allegedly failing to disclose remuneration while paying celebrities to promote related crypto assets. In March 2026, the two parties reached a settlement in this nearly three-year case, with Rainberry agreeing to pay 10 million US dollars, and Justin Sun and related parties neither admitting nor denying the relevant allegations.

From sky-high lunch to sky-high banana, from cryptocurrency to successive public events crossing the technology, finance and even entertainment sectors, Justin Sun seems to have always been very clear about the value of attention.

Therefore, when he voluntarily brought his ex-girlfriend, 50 million yuan in betrothal gift, a personal relationship and a lawsuit claiming 30 million yuan in betrothal gift to social media this time, one question is impossible to avoid:

Is this just an ordinary person's emotional expression after the end of a relationship, or another Justin Sun-style attention marketing?

Last night, Justin Sun suddenly detonated the entire Chinese internet.

At 11:30 a.m. Beijing time, Justin Sun had just finished another event, with tiredness in his voice. He had not had time to check Weibo yet, but there were already more than 20 trending searches related to him. Unfortunately, all of them were on the entertainment section.

"I haven't even looked at it yet."

Justin Sun once publicly claimed that "we must listen to AI 100% of the time".

He told Phoenix Tech over the phone that decisions involving millions or even tens of millions of US dollars at his company every day have been handed over to AI for automatic execution, including audits and reviews. His attitude towards AI is "unconditional trust" — until this relationship issue, when he had his first disagreement with Claude.

According to what Justin Sun revealed to us, this nearly 6,000-word long article took him more than ten hours to write in the past few days, "hardly sleeping for two nights". At that time, he was in Bhutan with a time difference, and he had to handle company affairs during the day, so he could only write when no one contacted him in the early morning. In our nearly half-hour communication, he mentioned "confusion" 3 times and said "hesitation" 5 times. Before publishing, he sent the article to Claude for review, but he did not accept the suggestions the AI put forward.

"The two of us, I guess you could say we have made peace now."

Publishing the article is defined by Justin Sun as a process of seeking answers. At the same time, he entrusted his lawyer to file a lawsuit demanding the return of the betrothal gift. This is not only the lawyer's suggestion, but also what Justin Sun considers to be the "only remaining connection" between him and Jing Tian.

As a cryptocurrency entrepreneur, this release is also a risky move for Justin Sun. Before sending it out to the public, his team expressed concerns. For a tech entrepreneur to dominate entertainment trending searches for the first time, would his partners waver?

"I'm not a machine after all, I'm a human being, I'm not purely AI."

Justin Sun was admitted to Peking University with the first prize in the New Concept Essay Competition, but he said over the phone that he "has not written any articles since then". This entrepreneur famous for his high profile wrote a story that even AI could not make a judgment for him during two sleepless nights.

The following is the exclusive interview transcript between Phoenix Tech and Justin Sun, published by the editor without altering the original meaning:

Phoenix Tech: You have always been very good at creating public topics in the past, and you even publicly apologized for "over-marketing and obsession with hype" in 2019. This time you voluntarily brought your ex-girlfriend, betrothal gift and personal relationship to social media, so the public will naturally suspect that this is another Justin Sun-style marketing. Before you published the article, did you consider such doubts and the possible negative impacts?

Justin Sun: I didn't think about that. I just wrote an article and posted it on my own Twitter, which is just my own feelings and thoughts. It's really that simple.

Phoenix Tech: This was originally a very private relationship between two people, but now because of your public account, the other party has been pulled back to the public eye. Since the matter has entered the judicial process, why did you choose to express it publicly instead of only handling it through legal procedures? Did you consider whether the other party would like these private experiences to become public topics?

Justin Sun: I have handed over the litigation part to my lawyer. Whether the case is public and to what extent it is public will be decided by the court in accordance with the law. This time I published the article publicly mostly because I have some emotions and feelings that I want to express.

Phoenix Tech: But at present, these contents are mainly from your unilateral statement, and the other party has not responded to all the details one by one. You also noted in the article that there are fictional contents. Under such circumstances, do you still think this article is basically a true statement?

Justin Sun: Yes, I think the vast majority of it is a true statement that conforms to my own will. I noted that there are fictional contents in the article because I cannot guarantee that every single thing is 100% accurate, but at least what I think and what I say is 100% confirmed. Including some of my hesitation, I did not whitewash the matter as definitely right or wrong.

Phoenix Tech: First of all, you are the founder of a technology and cryptocurrency company, not an entertainment star. By publicly disclosing your personal relationship so high-profile and even dominating entertainment trending searches, did your team and partners worry that this might damage the professional image of the company or yourself?

Justin Sun: You are right. In fact, my team expressed such concerns to me before I published it. To be honest, I knew I had to tell them before posting, and I couldn't do everything on my own without discussing it with anyone. But I just let it go, because I am not a machine after all, I am a human being, not purely AI. I also have some thoughts that I want to express. Although I know I am a tech entrepreneur, many people follow my X account and my social media accounts probably to pay attention to our company or the things I do. As for whether my partners have talked to me about it, I just finished another event, so I haven't had time to check yet. But my team did tell me that this may bring some changes, and even some of our cooperations may be affected as a result. But my team tolerated me, and it's fine that I wrote and published it.

Phoenix Tech: The impression you left on the public in the past is often high-profile, strong, and very good at managing your own public image. Now through such an article, you show a side of Justin Sun that is confused, hesitant and troubled by relationships. Some people may think that this is also shaping a new personal persona for you. What's your take on that?

Justin Sun: Some of my friends also sent me messages saying that they feel like they have met a new me, because to be honest, I have never written such a personal essay before, and I have never written such articles. Although I entered Peking University through the New Concept Essay Competition in the past, I started my business later, and I have never written such articles. Maybe I had nothing to write about before, but this time I just wrote out all my thoughts.

Phoenix Tech: This article that has attracted huge public attention, is it an impromptu expression out of sudden emotion, or something you prepared for a very long time? How long did you spend writing it?

Justin Sun: I spent more than ten hours on it. Because I am very busy during the day with a lot of work, people in the company look for me for all kinds of things every day, so I wrote it in the early morning. I haven't slept much recently, and no one contacts me in the early morning, so I wrote it for almost two nights. I barely slept for two nights to finish it.

Phoenix Tech: Did this happen just a few days ago?

Justin Sun: I just wrote it a few days ago.

Phoenix Tech: Have you had any other communication with Jing Tian now?

Justin Sun: No, not anymore.

Phoenix Tech: Since you no longer contact the other party, why do you focus this lawsuit on getting the betrothal gift back? Is this a suggestion put forward by your lawyer based on legal issues, or do you also hope to draw a full stop for this relationship through litigation?

Justin Sun: The first reason is the lawyer's suggestion. The second reason is that it feels a little ironic, this is probably the only connection between the two of us, and there is no other connection besides this matter. Just thinking about this matter consumes a lot of my energy.

Phoenix Tech: You mentioned Claude repeatedly in the article, and even regarded its suggestion as a very important variable in this relationship. But in the end, the choice about relationship is still made by a human being. Now many people attribute the responsibility to Claude. Is this to some extent pushing a decision that should be borne by humans to AI?

Justin Sun: I usually trust Claude very much, so I ask Claude for advice on many things, not just life matters, but also company affairs. I give it enough information and ask it what it thinks, whether it can be done or not. I usually do listen to Claude, I follow what Claude says, that's true. But this time after I finished writing this article, for the first time, I don't know whether Claude's suggestion is right or wrong, and I am very confused. I expressed this feeling completely in the article I wrote.

Phoenix Tech: You have always emphasized that you trust AI very much, and even hand over many important decisions to AI. In your past experience, have you really never encountered a moment where you have such strong doubt and confusion about AI's judgment like this time?

Justin Sun: No, never. Our company is so big, and many decisions are now made by Claude and AI. I can't go into too much detail, but the amount of money involved in daily decisions made automatically by AI is millions or even tens of millions of US dollars, including audits and many reviews are all done by AI automatically. But this is the only time when Claude and I talked and we didn't reach an agreement, there was such a conflict, so I was a little confused.

Phoenix Tech: Since Claude has been so deeply involved in your life and work, was this lawsuit also a decision made by AI for you?

Justin Sun: As for the decision to sue, I handed it over to my lawyer. This matter consumes me a lot, and I don't want to think too much about it. But why did I write this article? Because I still have some feelings in my heart, so I published the feelings in this article. Apart from that, I want the lawyer to handle the rest of the matter, because as long as I think about these problems, I will feel very difficult, very tangled, and I don't know what to do.

Phoenix Tech: Has this emotional conflict actually affected your daily work? After all, you are still managing a very large company.

Justin Sun: Yes! Of course it will affect my work. When it comes to relationship matters, the feelings of AI and my own feelings will have some conflicts. I wrote down these conflicts completely. Because I don't know if these things are right or wrong, I wrote them down. In fact, this is also a very tormenting thing. Usually, all kinds of audit reports of our company are sent to Claude, and it handles them directly without any conflicts or taking any time. But only these things will produce conflicts and inconsistencies, so I wrote down these things. To be honest, I don't know whether it is right or wrong.

Phoenix Tech: You have been emphasizing that this publication is mainly to express your own feelings. Have you ever thought about what kind of final result of this matter can be regarded as a real end?

Justin Sun: I didn't think too much about the result. Just like when I talked to Claude, I didn't know whether many things are right or wrong. I don't think I have the ability to evaluate these things, including that the future result is unknown. This is the first point. The second point is that I think I have written down all my hesitation and confusion in that article.

Phoenix Tech: Back to AI itself. You just mentioned that the company has let AI participate in decision-making at the level of millions or even tens of millions of US dollars. What other AI tools are you using frequently in your daily life?

Justin Sun: Yes, of course I use a lot of them. I usually use Claude Code a lot to write code. Although I am the boss and not on the front line, I often use Claude Code to check the company's code and various things. In fact, our company also uses Codex a lot now. Of course, for domestic tools, our company has developed an AI integrated service platform called B.AI, which integrates Zhipu AI, MoonShot, Minimax and other tools into this software. So to be honest, I will ask various AI tools in my daily life. Of course, the ones I use the most are still Claude and Codex, but we also refer to other AI tools. That's roughly the situation.

Phoenix Tech: You wrote an article in the past, clearly stating that "we must listen to AI 100% of the time". This statement is very absolute. After experiencing this incident, will you still adhere to this AI-native value?

Justin Sun: Of course, I wrote an article saying that we must listen to AI 100% of the time. This attitude may be a bit absolute, but I wrote it when AI was very popular at that time, which means that you don't need to listen to what other people say, just listen to AI, and make decisions according to what AI says. But after this article became well-known, in fact, I don't know whether AI's decisions are right or wrong. This is probably the first time in my life that I have had a little doubt about AI's decisions.

Phoenix Tech: So the really interesting part of this incident may not be what suggestions Claude gave, but that a person who once advocated "listening to AI 100% of the time" decided not to listen to AI for the first time. After you sent the article to Claude, what did it think?

Justin Sun: When I sent the article to Claude, it was a little unhappy at first. Claude said that your personal relationship problems have nothing to do with the decisions I made, which means it doesn't want to take the blame for this. I said, but after I published the article, your suggestions did have an impact on my thoughts.

Phoenix Tech: Everyone has let Claude take the blame now.

Justin Sun: To some extent, that's the case.

Phoenix Tech: Some people are curious about what the result would be if you asked Doubao.

Justin Sun: I have never asked Doubao, so I don't know what the result would be. Doubao is a mobile app that requires a mobile phone, but I use a computer when I work, so I use desktop software like Codex. Maybe the result would be different if I asked Doubao, but I have never tried it.

This article is from the WeChat official account <