Billionaire who paid $4.6M for dinner with Buffett, says he’d spend $30M for an hour with Elon Musk

He once paid $6.2 million for a banana taped to a wall and $4.6 million to dine with Warren Buffett.

He also spent more than $40 million on $TRUMP coins and was the wealthiest guest at a private dinner gala hosted by President Donald Trump.

Now, crypto billionaire Justin Sun says he’d spend $30 million for just one hour of Elon Musk’s time.

Sun, the founder of the TRON blockchain said that he would be willing to pay Elon Musk $30 million for a private conversation.

“If I could spend an hour alone chatting with Elon Musk, I would be willing to pay him $30 million,” Sun wrote.

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Justin Sun is the founder of TRON, a high-throughput blockchain network that has become a major settlement layer for stablecoins, decentralized finance, and on-chain payments.

He later acquired BitTorrent, integrating it into the TRON ecosystem and expanding its global footprint.

TRON consistently ranks among the most active blockchains by transaction volume. Sun himself has become one of crypto’s most visible, and controversial figures.

According to Forbes estimates, his net worth is $8.5 billion, 409^th richest person of all time.

Sun is also known for lavishly spending money for symbolic purposes.

In 2024, he paid $6.2 million for Maurizio Cattelan’s Comedian, the viral banana duct-taped to a wall, later describing it as a symbol of value, absurdity, and attention in modern markets.

Sun’s most famous purchase came in 2019, when he paid $4,567,888 to win a charity auction for lunch with Warren Buffett, one of Bitcoin’s most outspoken critics. After months of delays and speculation, the dinner finally took place in January 2020 in Omaha, Nebraska.

In a detailed Medium post reflecting on the meeting, Sun called it “one of the best moments of my life.”

During the dinner, Sun presented Buffett with several gifts, including a smartphone preloaded with cryptocurrencies.

“And of course, a Samsung Galaxy Fold 2 with TRON blockchain embedded, loaded with 1 Bitcoin, 1,930,830 TRX, 100 BTT, 100 WIN, and 100 TRC20-USDT,” Sun wrote, noting that the number of TRX matched Buffett’s birthday.

Sun also demonstrated a live blockchain transaction at the table.

“45.67888 TRX was instantly transferred,” he wrote. “Upon witnessing the completion of the transfer, Mr. Buffett was delighted and said blockchain has its value.”

While Buffett remained skeptical of Bitcoin as an investment, Sun said the billionaire clearly separated crypto assets from the underlying technology.

“Mr. Buffett said blockchain has its value,” Sun wrote. “There are a lot of incredible companies in the payment market, and it has huge demands.”

According to Sun, Buffett believed blockchain technology would have “a disruptive effect on the future of payments,” even if he continued to favor traditional productive assets over cryptocurrencies.

Sun’s interest in Elon Musk follows the same logic.

Musk occupies a singular position in tech and crypto culture, shaping debates around AI, payments, energy, and decentralization, while intermittently influencing crypto markets through his public comments.

Sun has previously recalled that Buffett himself described Musk as “a great entrepreneur,” even while questioning Tesla as an investment.

Now, Sun appears eager to engage Musk directly, suggesting that a private conversation could be worth more than any financial asset.

Related: Warren Buffett’s last day as Berkshire CEO puts focus back on rare asset

This story was originally published by TheStreet on Jan 18, 2026, where it first appeared in the MARKETS section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.