Justin Sun Prize and MathDB launch 50-problem pilot

Today the Office of Justin Sun unveiled a pilot program for the Justin Sun Prize together with MathDB, a mathematics research platform created by Caltech Professor Tony Yue Yu and his team.

The Justin Sun Prize aims to become the “Nobel Prize of the AI Era,” adapting to the deep changes in scientific research and incentives through a decentralized, formalized and machine-driven approach. Individual problem awards may go up to $1 million depending on the award terms and eligibility.

The partnership creates a submission and review system via MathDB. MathDB handles solution submissions, verifies Lean formalizations and reviews expository materials; the Justin Sun Prize evaluates eligibility, attribution, priority and applicable award terms separately.

“AI is changing the speed at which mathematics can be explored, but speed alone is not scientific progress,” said Justin Sun, founder of the Justin Sun Prize. “The opportunity is to create a framework where human insight and machine intelligence can work together without compromising rigor. Working with MathDB brings mathematical discovery and machine-verifiable proof into the same process, which we believe can help define a more rigorous model for future discoveries.”

The pilot encompasses 50 problems across four award tiers, with per-problem prize pools reaching up to $1 million. The top tier features P versus NP, the Riemann Hypothesis, Yang-Mills Existence and Mass Gap, the Hodge Conjecture, Global Langlands functoriality and the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer Conjecture, among others. MathDB and the Justin Sun Prize will publish the complete list of problems and applicable award terms.

Every award depends on complete eligibility checks, adherence to anti-money laundering (AML/sanctions) regulations, and the official program rules posted at https://www.hejustinsun.com/prize.

To extend the reach of advanced research, the MathDB pilot will compensate not just solutions to math problems but also clear and compelling communication of those solutions. The reward splits into three parts: 50% for the mathematical solution, 30% for Lean formalization and 20% for qualifying exposition.

MathDB is a large community database of mathematical definitions, theorems, conjectures and open problems designed to make mathematical knowledge simpler to organize, connect and expand. The project includes Lean formalization and automated proof verification, along with mathematical explanations and supporting research materials. Caltech Professor Tony Yue Yu and his team will oversee the scientific aspects of the pilot.

“Solving a fundamental math problem often leads to much more than an answer to the original question,” said Yu. “The process can reveal unexpected connections, introduce powerful tools and open entirely new directions of research. These developments can have an influence that extends across generations and disciplines. The Justin Sun Prize celebrates this spirit of exploration by drawing attention to challenging problems, supporting researchers who pursue them, and encouraging public dissemination of knowledge. Our collaboration with the Justin Sun Prize is grounded in the belief that pursuing fundamental research through decentralized, rigorous and verifiable approaches can accelerate the pace of discovery and scientific progress, and contribute to the advancement of human civilization.”

The complete list of problems, submission criteria and review procedures will appear on MathDB (https://mathdb.com/) and the Justin Sun Prize (https://www.hejustinsun.com/prize).

About the Office of Justin Sun

The Office of Justin Sun backs Justin Sun's worldwide business, philanthropic and public endeavors in technology, blockchain, AI, scientific research, investment, art and space exploration.

Justin Sun serves as Ambassador and former Permanent Representative of Grenada to the WTO and founded TRON. TRON leads the stablecoin revolution, having processed over $13 trillion in volume since launch. In emerging markets, people use USDT on TRON to join the global financial system.

A protégé of Alibaba founder Jack Ma, Sun has received international recognition for his digital asset work, including a Forbes cover profile in April 2025 and several Forbes 30 Under 30 listings. In August 2025, he flew on Blue Origin's NS-34 mission, becoming the 712th person to travel to space. His interests extend to technology, investment, philanthropy, art, gaming and space exploration.

About Justin Sun Prize

The Justin Sun Prize is an academic program founded by Justin Sun to promote progress in mathematics, formal verification and AI-assisted scientific discovery. It is decentralized and based on the idea that mathematical work should be evaluated by the proof's strength, rigor and verifiability, not the submitter's prestige or reputation.

Sun established the prize in his own name as a long-term pledge to channel wealth generated by mathematics and technology back into mathematics. Its legacy will be determined by the work it honors and the laureates whose discoveries endure. The prize connects well-defined mathematical challenges with machine-verifiable proofs. Its core principles are openness, public benefit and open-source access.

More information is available at https://www.hejustinsun.com/prize.