Jack Paul 
Justin Sun’s self-proclaimed micronation Liberland has awarded Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin its highest state honor. The “First Class Order of Merit of the Star of Liberland” is a star-shaped medal meant to recognize Buterin’s technical contributions to blockchain technology.
The award was presented during ETHPrague 2026, where Buterin attended a Network State event sponsored by Liberland. According to Liberland officials, the medal celebrates Buterin’s “extraordinary technical achievements” and his role in advancing ideas about how societies can organize themselves. They also praised him for focusing on “pop-up cities, decentralized societies, and network states.”
The name and inspiration
The medal’s designation appears to draw inspiration from the Commonwealth’s Order of Merit, a roughly 100-year-old award that has recognized distinguished services from figures like Florence Nightingale. Interestingly, Tron founder Justin Sun—who is Liberland’s elected prime minister—has not received this particular honor.
Sun’s political role and ongoing disputes
Sun was elected prime minister of Liberland in October 2024 and has been re-elected seven times since. When he first applied for the position, he stressed the importance of maintaining strong U.S. ties and boasted about his investments in World Liberty Financial ($WLFI), a crypto firm linked to Donald Trump. He also praised U.S. Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff as an ally.
However, those statements haven’t aged well. Witkoff’s son, Zach Witkoff, who is a co-founder of $WLFI, now claims Sun is trying to “torch” the firm. Meanwhile, both $WLFI and Sun have launched lawsuits against each other. Protos also notes that Sun likely hasn’t set foot in Liberland yet.
Liberland’s recent activities
Beyond courting crypto executives, Liberland recently highlighted that it was unaffected by a 4.1 magnitude earthquake that struck the Donbas region. President Vít Jedlička stated that “every structure we build in Liberland is designed with events like this in mind.” These structures reportedly include a tent beach bar and a treehouse.