Why did a blockchain entrepreneur team up with Hans Zimmer?

Justin Sun is a Chinese-born Grenadian cryptocurrency executive, best known for launching TRON, a blockchain ecosystem alongside its own cryptocurrency, TRX token, in 2017.

TRON and the TRX token’s success put Sun in a position to both acquire the company BitTorrent (now known as Rainberry) and spend a period as a representative for Grenada at the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Sun’s latest project sees him return to TRON, this time to launch a theme tune for the blockchain ecosystem. Not willing to put together a half-assed version of the anthem, Sun enlisted the help of German composer Hans Zimmer.

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Even if you don’t think you know Hans Zimmer, you know Hans Zimmer. Zimmer has scored music for over 100 films, including Dune, the Pirates of the Caribbean series, Gladiator, The Lion King and nearly every Christopher Nolan film. For his work on Dune and The Lion King, he won the Academy Award for Best Original Score, and has also got four Grammys, three Golden Globes and four Classic Brit Awards on his shelf.

Zimmer’s work isn’t just related to film. He and his studio have produced soundtracks for television shows, video games, award shows and even sports. In total, he’s lent his hand to nearly 150 film and TV show soundtracks.

Why did Zimmer, famed for his expansive works for film and television, lend his hand to creating the anthem for a blockchain ecosystem? We spoke to Sun on how the collaboration came about.

Web3 is a catch-all term people in cryptocurrency use to refer to the ways internet technologies such as TRON can be used to decentralise economics through blockchains and token-based monetary systems. Sun believes the anthem is inspired by the Web3 community’s “vision of the future”.

“As a world-leading decentralised platform, TRON symbolises a new force of life and takes on independence and autonomy as its mission. In a world with pluralistic languages and values, it has been a struggle for a diverse range of groups to come together and communicate with each other,” Sun tells Euronews.

The way to bring together the polyphony of voices in this increasingly polarised world, is through the transcendent qualities of music, Sun suggests. “Whatever background you come from, you will never miss the feelings and messages behind a melody once the music notes slowly unfold in your ear.”

“TRON believes that such an anthem can deepen mutual understanding across the Web3 community and form a synergy that drives industry-wide collaboration and expedites the advent of a whole new future,” Sun says.

At just under three minutes, ‘The TRON Anthem’ is classic Zimmer. Strings soar as percussion punctuate extended phrases of choral singing. It all builds up nicely into a melodic expanse that’s cacophonous without being dissonant. It’s less unique and otherworldly than something from the Dune: Part Two soundtrack, but it still manages to elicit the feeling of first exploring an open world sci-fi video game.

How does this all relate to a technology platform for financial trading separate from the major global banking systems? Sun insists it's because TRON and Web3 in general are about creating a “freer, more open and more equal world.” The work for Web3 pioneers is creative in much the same was as Zimmer’s approach to his work, Sun says.

“Hans Zimmer's outstanding creativity has always been a motivator to me, and we do need masters like him to join us in creating a better future,” Sun says. “One commonality between us is our shared commitment to innovating and dedicating ourselves to creating a more uplifting and ideal world.”

Sun is effusive about Zimmer’s talents as “ one of the greatest composers worldwide,” who commands “significant weight in the musical industry,” and is quick to compare this with TRON and its goals of decentralisation – themes brought up in the new anthem’s genesis. “ It was initially sparked by an intense discussion between Hans Zimmer and me on how to energise and unite crypto communities through music.”

‘The TRON Anthem’ may be a bold musical move to broaden people’s understanding of the platform, but it’s unclear if it will offset the negative press that Sun has received when he was charged with fraud by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last year.

In March 2023, Sun, Tron Foundation Limited, BitTorrent Foundation Ltd., and Rainberry Inc. were charged by the SEC for the unregistered offer and sale of TRX. The SEC also accused Sun of manipulating the secondary market for TRX. In the complaint, the SEC also charged eight celebrities for touting TRX without disclosing their compensation, including Jake Paul, Lindsay Lohan, Soulja Boy and Ne-Yo.

In February this year, the major US crypto firm Circle stopped the support of its USDC token on Sun’s TRON blockchain ecosystem, in order to maintain Circle’s “efforts to ensure that USDC remained trusted, transparent and safe.”

Sun has denied all the SEC allegations against him and his companies. Speaking about the new anthem, he is committed to the company’s potential to improve the world. “TRON has laid a solid foundation for this world through its efficient and affordable transaction system and a user-friendly ecosystem that benefits both developers and users,” Sun says.