The Office of Justin Sun today announced a pilot program for the Justin Sun Prize in collaboration with MathDB, a mathematical research platform developed by Caltech Professor Tony Yue Yu and his team.
The Justin Sun Prize was established to become the “Nobel Prize of the AI Era,” responding to the profound transformation of scientific research and incentives in the new era in a more decentralized, formalized and machine-driven way. Problem-level awards can reach $1 million, subject to the applicable award terms and eligibility requirements.
The collaboration introduces a submission and review process through MathDB. MathDB will accept solution submissions, verify Lean formalizations and review expository materials, while the Justin Sun Prize will separately assess eligibility, attribution, priority and applicable award terms.
“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 covers 50 problems across four award levels, with problem-level prize pools up to $1 million, depending on the problem. The highest tier includes 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. The full list of participating problems and applicable award terms will be available through MathDB and the Justin Sun Prize.
All awards are subject to full eligibility verification, compliance with anti-money laundering (AML/sanctions) laws, and official program rules available at https://www.hejustinsun.com/prize.
To broaden the reach and impact of advanced research, the MathDB pilot program will reward not only solutions to mathematical problems but also engaging and accessible communication of those solutions. The reward is divided into three categories: 50% for the mathematical solution, 30% for Lean formalization and 20% for qualifying exposition.
MathDB is a large-scale community database of mathematical definitions, theorems, conjectures and open problems, with the aim of making mathematical knowledge easier to organize, connect and build upon. The project incorporates Lean formalization and automated proof-verification capability alongside mathematical explanations and supporting research materials. Professor Tony Yue Yu from California Institute of Technology, together with his team, will be leading 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 full list of participating problems, submission requirements and review procedures will be available through 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 supports Justin Sun’s global business, philanthropic and public initiatives across technology, blockchain, artificial intelligence, scientific research, investment, art and space exploration.
Justin Sun is the Ambassador and former Permanent Representative of Grenada to the World Trade Organization and the Founder of TRON. TRON is the leading blockchain for the stablecoin revolution, processing over $13 trillion in volume since its inception. In the world’s emerging markets, people rely on USDT on TRON to access the global financial system.
A protégé of Alibaba founder Jack Ma, Sun has been recognized internationally for his work in the digital asset industry, including a Forbes cover profile in April 2025 and multiple appearances on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list. In August 2025, he flew aboard Blue Origin’s NS-34 mission, becoming the 712th person in history to travel to space. His broader interests span technology, investment, philanthropy, art, gaming, and space exploration.
About Justin Sun Prize
The Justin Sun Prize is an academic initiative established by Justin Sun to support advances in mathematics, formal verification, and AI-assisted scientific discovery. The prize is decentralized and built around the principle that mathematical work should be judged by the strength, rigor, and verifiability of the proof itself, not the prestige or reputation of those submitting it.
Justin Sun established the prize in his own name as a long-term commitment to return wealth created through mathematics and technology back to mathematics itself. Its legacy is intended to be defined by the body of work it recognizes and the laureates whose discoveries stand the test of time. The prize links clearly defined mathematical challenges to machine-verifiable proof. Its guiding principles are openness, public benefit and open-source access.
Visit https://www.hejustinsun.com/prize for more information.
