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Justin Sun’s office just named three winners of the Justin Sun Prize — and the math world is paying attention. The recipients are independent researcher Wouter van Doorn, Ph.D. student Quanyu Tang, and Southeast University researcher Yanyang Li, all recognized for cracking long-standing Erdős problems.
Why It Matters
This recognition highlights the intersection of artificial intelligence and advanced mathematics, showcasing how AI can expedite problem-solving in complex fields. As the crypto and tech sectors increasingly leverage AI for innovation, breakthroughs in foundational mathematics can enhance algorithm development, potentially impacting cryptographic security and blockchain technology. The collaboration between these disciplines could lead to new applications and efficiencies, further driving investment and interest in both AI and crypto markets.
Erdős problems, for the uninitiated, are a sprawling collection of open mathematical challenges left behind by the legendary Hungarian mathematician Paul Erdős. Some have sat unsolved for decades. They range from number theory puzzles to combinatorics riddles, and the mathematical community has chipped away at them slowly over the years. What’s different now is the toolbox. Van Doorn, Tang, and Li didn’t just bring pencil-and-paper proofs — they brought AI into the mix, and the results were apparently good enough to earn the first confirmed awards under the Justin Sun Prize.
What Each Researcher Actually Solved
Van Doorn, a number theorist who’s been doing mathematical research since his undergraduate days, tackled several Erdős problems at once. He worked on questions involving consecutive integers with restricted prime factors and whether short runs of consecutive integers can include all primes within a given range. He also verified solutions through Lean, a software built specifically for mathematical proof verification. That last part matters — the Justin Sun Prize doesn’t just want answers, it wants answers you can check.
Tang, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Science and Technology of China, focuses on number theory, combinatorics, and AI-assisted discovery. He resolved Erdős Problem #1044, which deals with establishing a lower boundary for regions defined by polynomials. Not exactly light reading. Tang also teamed up with Li to take on Problem #1196, which involves weighted sums over certain integer sets.
The three researchers also collaborated together on Erdős Problem #650 — a problem dealing with matching integers to distinct multiples within a specified range. That’s where the AI angle gets interesting.
ChatGPT and Aristotle Enter the Proof Room
Working through Problem #650, the team leaned on two AI systems at different stages. ChatGPT handled the early proof strategy work. Then Aristotle, a separate AI system, came in for the harder job of refining the formalization process. It’s a pretty clear split — broad ideation first, precision work second. Human judgment ran through the whole thing, but the AI tools did real lifting.
That kind of human-AI collaboration is becoming more common in high-level research, and it’s probably going to keep spreading. Mathematical proof verification is one of those areas where AI can actually help in a meaningful, structured way — not just summarizing text or generating boilerplate, but working through logical chains that need to hold up under scrutiny. Van Doorn’s use of Lean for verification sits in that same space. The proof has to be machine-checkable. That’s a hard bar.
The prize winners can collect their awards in either USDT on the TRON network or USDC on Ethereum. That’s not a trivial detail — it says something about what the prize is and who’s behind it.
Sun’s Bigger Play Here
Justin Sun, founder of TRON, set up the prize to push mathematics forward and to put AI-assisted scientific discovery on a more formal footing. The initiative values the strength and verifiability of proofs over traditional academic prestige. Basically, it doesn’t care where you went to school or whether you have a tenure-track position. It cares whether your proof holds up.
That’s a meaningful departure from how academic recognition usually works. Traditional prizes in mathematics tend to flow through established institutions, prestigious journals, and long-standing professional networks. The Justin Sun Prize is deliberately open — publicly accessible, verifiable, and not gatekept by academic reputation.
Whether that model catches on more broadly is unclear. But for now, three researchers walked away with the first confirmed awards, and the math behind their wins is checkable by anyone with the right software.
Van Doorn’s Lean verification work is probably the clearest example of what the prize is going for. Lean isn’t a tool most casual observers know, but in mathematical circles it’s a serious piece of infrastructure — used to build proofs that computers can check line by line. That’s the kind of rigor the prize seems to want to reward.
Tang’s resolution of Problem #1044 and his collaboration with Li on Problem #1196 round out a set of wins that span number theory and combinatorics. He’s still a Ph.D. candidate. Li is at Southeast University in Nanjing. Van Doorn is independent. Three different career stages, three different institutions — or no institution at all — and one shared prize.
The prize money lands in crypto. The math is old-school hard.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Who won the Justin Sun Prize and what did they solve?
Wouter van Doorn, Quanyu Tang, and Yanyang Li won the prize for work on Erdős problems including Problem #650, Problem #1044, and Problem #1196, covering number theory and combinatorics.
How can Justin Sun Prize winners receive their award?
Winners can choose to receive their prize in either USDT on the TRON network or USDC on Ethereum.
