From the shores of Cloud Lake to the Crypto Empire, how the new generation of Chinese entrepreneurs conquers global authority.

In March 2025, Sun Yuchen appeared on the cover of Forbes’ English edition, with the headline boldly stating, “The Crypto Billionaire Who Helped the Trump Family Make $400 Million.” He became the second Chinese entrepreneur to appear on the cover of Forbes’ English edition after Jack Ma, and the fourth exchange leader worldwide to achieve this honor—preceded only by Binance’s Zhao Changpeng (CZ), FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), and Coinbase’s Brian Armstrong.

As Forbes shifted its cover from “West Lake Debate” with Jack Ma to “Crypto Evangelism” with Sun Yuchen, a metaphor about the generational shift in commercial power began to emerge: traditional internet giants yielding to the new crypto elite, with Chinese entrepreneurs evolving from “followers” to “rule-makers.”

Forbes Cover Secret: Who is Defining the New Era’s Business Benchmark?

The selection of Forbes cover figures is never random. From Bill Gates to Elon Musk, from Jack Ma to Sun Yuchen, there are always two guiding principles behind the decision: “measurable business dominance” and “irreplaceable rule-defining power.”

In the traditional business era, Jack Ma became the first Chinese entrepreneur to appear on the cover of Forbes’ English edition, thanks to Alibaba’s GMV myth and the vision of “making it easy for anyone to do business.” The logic for his selection was clear and straightforward: those who could represent China’s explosive market growth would receive the spotlight of global media.

However, in the crypto era, Forbes’ value compass is shifting. When Sun Yuchen, along with TRON and Huobi HTX, appeared on the cover, the judges focused not just on trading volume or user numbers, but on the potential to “technologically reconstruct the global financial order.”

Sun Yuchen’s “Three-Pole Advantage”: Technology, Capital, and Brand Power

1. Technological Infrastructure: The Invisible Dominant Force in Global Payment Networks

“Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino once commented in an interview that ‘more than half of USDT was issued on TRON because the transaction fees were much cheaper on TRON.’”

According to the latest data from the TRON blockchain, its total value locked (TVL) has surpassed $19.7 billion, with a user base nearing 300 million. The USDT trading volume exceeds $66.6 billion, processing more than 14 million USDT transactions weekly, accounting for more than half of global USDT activity. This means that tens of millions of users are unknowingly using the payment network built by Sun Yuchen.

2. Business Expansion: When Crypto Meets Traditional Power

In 2024, Sun Yuchen added a new role as an advisor to the Trump family’s cryptocurrency project WLFI (World Liberty Financial), investing $75 million and becoming the largest investor in the project. These collaborations showcased a textbook example of “monetizing political resources”: cryptocurrency became a fundraising tool and a platform for public opinion during the U.S. election year for the first time.

“This proves that crypto assets are no longer geek toys, but strategic weapons capable of leveraging real-world power,” Forbes wrote in its cover story.

3. Brand Power Building: HTX’s Counter-Cyclical Growth

At the darkest moment when the FTX collapse triggered a crisis of trust in the industry, Sun Yuchen took over Huobi HTX and completed an “extreme transformation”:

• Security Measures: As of March 2025, HTX has published proof of 100% reserves for 29 consecutive months, institutionalizing “security monthly reports.” They also built a blacklist with millions of addresses and collaborated with authoritative organizations to create an anti-money laundering information database, with thousands of real-time rules and nearly a hundred risk models to prevent suspicious asset inflows and protect user funds.
• Wealth Strategy: In Q1, HTX launched 47 new assets, covering popular sectors such as Meme, AI, and public chains. The popular token $TRUMP saw a daily increase of over 400%. The first Launchpool event attracted more than 150,000 participants.
• Ecosystem Strategy: The HTX DAO governance token $HTX has nearly 760,000 holders, and the TRON ecosystem trading competition reached a daily trading volume of over $14 million.

According to the industry report released by CoinDesk on February 27, HTX has achieved remarkable results in its global expansion, successfully entering the top three in global euro stablecoin trading volume. Its competitiveness in international markets continues to grow. At the same time, HTX was included in “Forbes’ 2025 List of the 25 Most Trusted Crypto Exchanges Worldwide.”

The Ecological Landscape Behind the Cover: What Kind of Business Leaders Does China Need?

When Jack Ma appeared on the cover of Forbes in 2015, Chinese internet companies were still trying to prove the legitimacy of the “Copy to China” model. Today, entrepreneurs like Sun Yuchen are practicing the “Copy from China” global ambition.

The deeper driving force behind this shift comes from the subtle resonance between the crypto industry and China’s business DNA:

• Technological Pragmatism: Unlike the Western obsession with “decentralized fundamentalism,” Sun Yuchen excels at embedding blockchain technology into real-world needs. Whether it’s the compliance partnership between TRON and Huawei Cloud, or the “strict token listing” strategy of Huobi HTX, it demonstrates a typical Chinese pragmatic philosophy.
• Scalable Warfare: From TRON’s $10 million Meme ecosystem incentive program to HTX DAO’s innovative decentralized governance model, Sun Yuchen deeply understands the Web 3.0 concept that “community is the core, and users are the foundation.”
• Policy Strategy Wisdom: As U.S. exchanges shrink their operations due to regulatory pressure, Sun Yuchen established a base in the Eurasian market through actions such as becoming the Prime Minister of the Liberland Republic and applying for compliance licenses in multiple countries.

At the time Sun Yuchen appeared on the global cover of Forbes, he was only 35 years old, and everything was just beginning. As a young leader in the crypto industry, he represents not only the vast development potential of the crypto field but also mainstream society’s curiosity and expectations towards crypto. Sun Yuchen once mentioned in a live stream, “We can prove to the outside world that the crypto industry can represent the image and interests of Chinese people internationally.” He has proven that Chinese entrepreneurs can still hold industry discourse power without relying on the domestic market.

When the Cover Becomes a New Starting Point: The Encoder of New Rules

The true significance of the Forbes cover may lie in how it unveils a new script for the globalization of Chinese entrepreneurs:

• The Jack Ma Era: Leveraging domestic market advantages, exporting the “Made in China” business model to the world.
• The Sun Yuchen Era: Bypassing geopolitical barriers and using crypto technology to build a business empire that is “born global and grows global.”

Sun Yuchen’s challenge is just beginning—he needs to prove that the crypto empire is not a fleeting capital game, but a next-generation infrastructure capable of standing alongside Alibaba and Tencent. As Sun Yuchen mentioned in a live stream, “This is indeed a milestone progress, but it is just the beginning.”

At this moment, we may be witnessing history: as the entrepreneurial legend by West Lake fades, the new generation of Chinese entrepreneurs is already writing the prologue to a new order on the other side of the ocean.

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