Justin Sun dedicates niTROn conference to Kobe Bryant, attracts crypto community's ire

• Many in the crypto community negatively reacted to Sun's for capitalizing on Bryant's death to promote the conference.
• Earlier, Sun himself had acknowledged his tendency to over-promote and had said that he was “ashamed” of it.

On 27 January, basketball superstar Kobe Bryant, his 13-year old daughter Gianna, and seven other people passed away in a helicopter crash. While the entire world was grieving the tragedy, TRON’s Justin Sun dedicated the next niTROn conference to the beloved player. Following this, the crypto community was divided in its reactions questioning if this was genuine mourning or marketing tactics.  

Sun stated that he will “forever remember us on stage, discussing the future of blockchain.” He further added that Bryant “is a member of the TRON family.” Additionally, the next niTROn Summit’s festivities will be dedicated to “his legendary life & legacy.”

Most of the crypto community members seemed to support the idea that Sun was simply trying to promote his firm, failing to pay the necessary respects to the legendary player. PrimitiveCrypto founding partner, Dovey Wan, called Sun a “psychopath.”

Verge exec Mark Wittenberg tweeted:

You are a sick individual @justinsuntron to try to #capitalize off of a death of a hero, his daughter, and the others on board. Come at me brother because 99% of the world has #heart, and you are the 1%. Grow up, and listen with your ears, and not your mouth.

Given Sun’s past efforts to overpromote, this reaction comes as no surprise. Earlier, he had paid $4.6 million to have lunch with Warren Buffet, one of the world’s most well-known investors. He intended to inform Buffet of the qualities of blockchain technology. Sun was also accused of illegal fundraising through the TRON project by the 21st Century Business Herald. Sun had earlier acknowledged his tendency to overpromote and had issued an apology. He had stated that he has been over-marketing and is “ashamed” of it.