Justin Sun Announces $1M Prize for Mathematical Breakthroughs

Geneva, Switzerland — September 16, 2026 — The Office of Justin Sun unveiled the Justin Sun Prize, a decentralized and zero‑trust academic bounty system. It is built around a problem list, with awards based on breakthroughs in fundamental fields that are machine‑formally verified. A single problem can earn up to US$1 million. The prize aims to reshape scientific rewards in the AI era and speed up fundamental research through human‑AI collaboration.

The first winners were also announced, covering solutions and formalized proofs for 66 mathematical problems. The US$1 million top prize went to the OpenAI research team for solving and formally proving the Existence and Smoothness of the Three‑Dimensional Navier–Stokes Equations. According to OpenAI’s own release, its internal model produced the proof, while GPT‑6 Astra handled the Lean formalization and verification.

The Navier–Stokes equations describe how fluids move and are often called the N–S equations. They were developed in the 19th century by French physicist Claude‑Louis Navier and Irish‑born British mathematician George Gabriel Stokes, among others, and date back roughly 200 years. In 2000, the Clay Mathematics Institute made the Navier–Stokes existence and smoothness one of the seven Millennium Prize Problems, with a US$1 million reward.

The Justin Sun Prize does not rely on traditional nominations, credential barriers, a four‑year cycle, or lifetime achievement. Instead, it links the award directly to mathematical problems and machine‑verifiable formal proofs. Anyone can win by being the first to achieve a qualifying breakthrough.

The prize’s vision is to become the “Nobel Prize of the AI Era,” responding to the deep transformation of scientific research and incentives through a more decentralized, formalized, machine‑driven model. The repository of problems and formalized code will be maintained and publicly updated continuously. Once listed, a problem is locked: problems can only be added, never removed. Awarded prize funds never have to be returned, regardless of circumstances.

The current problem list includes formal verification of the Poincaré Conjecture, the Riemann Hypothesis, Goldbach’s Conjecture, and many unsolved problems from the late mathematician and Wolf Prize laureate Paul Erdős.

Winners also receive a certificate and a medal. The medal’s edge bears the Latin phrase “Quod probatur, solvitur,” meaning “Proved, then paid.”

The Justin Sun Prize follows three core principles: openness, public benefit, and open source. It is open to all eligible contributors regardless of nationality, institution, or identity, and treats humans and AI equally. Funds are used only for prizes and open initiatives, not for profit. The problem list, confirmation standards, proofs, and verification materials are public on GitHub. Prize disbursement records are recorded on‑chain for permanent traceability and immutability.

“An award named after a person is the least political thing in the world,” said Sun. “More importantly, it gives me an answer to myself—my wealth is rooted in mathematics. It came from mathematics, and it will return to mathematics.”

Public records show Sun has donated more than US$45 million across technology, environmental protection, disaster relief, and other fields. The Justin Sun Prize will become a central focus of his philanthropy, supporting fundamental science breakthroughs through an open and verifiable model.

The prize is paid in USDT on TRON (TRC‑20) or USDC on Ethereum (ERC‑20), based on the recipient’s choice.

About the Office of Justin Sun

The Office of Justin Sun supports Sun’s global business, philanthropic, and public initiatives in technology, blockchain, artificial intelligence, scientific research, investment, art, and space exploration.

Justin Sun serves as Grenada’s Ambassador and its former Permanent Representative to the World Trade Organization. He is also the founder of TRON, which is the leading blockchain for the stablecoin revolution, having processed over $13 trillion in volume since inception. In emerging markets, people rely on USDT on TRON to access the global financial system.

A protégé of Alibaba founder Jack Ma, Sun has been internationally recognized for his digital‑asset work, including a Forbes cover profile in April 2025 and multiple appearances on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list. In August 2025, he flew on Blue Origin’s NS‑34 mission, becoming the 712th person in history to travel to space. His broader interests include technology, investment, philanthropy, art, gaming, and space exploration.

About Justin Sun Prize

The Justin Sun Prize is an academic initiative established by Sun to advance mathematics, formal verification, and AI‑assisted scientific discovery. It is decentralized and judges mathematical work by the strength, rigor, and verifiability of the proof itself, not the prestige of the submitter.

Sun established the prize in his own name as a long‑term commitment to return wealth created through mathematics and technology back to mathematics. Its legacy is meant to be defined by the work it recognizes and the laureates whose discoveries endure. The prize links defined mathematical challenges to machine‑verifiable proof. Its guiding principles are openness, public benefit, and open‑source access.