TRON(TRX)

Tron, or the TRON network, has positioned itself as a decentralized, blockchain-based platform that enables content creators to monetize their work without losing a large share of their income to middlemen such as music and video streaming platforms, app stores, etc.

Founded in 2017 by tech entrepreneur Justin Sun, the TRON mainnet was actually launched in June 2018. This was after the TRON initial coin offering (ICO) had raised $70 million, although it later returned funds raised from Chinese investors after China banned ICOs. Justin Sun, however, remains a vocal promotor for the network.

Being a smart contract-enabled blockchain with fast and cheap transactions, TRON has continued to grow in terms of network activity and decentralized applications (Dapps). Tron’s native token TRX plays a crucial role in securing the network through a delegated proof-of-stake (DPoS) consensus mechanism and is also used to pay transaction fees.

Given its low transaction fees, Tether's USDT stablecoin on the TRON network, also known as TRC20 USDT, accounts for significant network usage and the circulating supply of USDT on the TRON network is often higher than its supply on the Ethereum network.

TRX price

TRX price has seen extreme price swings over the years, starting from its initial rally in December 2017–January 2018, when TRX in USD terms reached an all-time high of around $0.23. However, the price of TRX crashed along with the broader market and declined to under $0.035 by March 2018.

TRX coin price saw another brief recovery in May 2018, when its price reached around $0.09, only to dive down to around $0.01 by November of the same year. After that, the TRX token continued to trade between $0.01 and $0.04 until early February 2021 as indicated by our TRX live price chart.

Between February and April 2021, however, TRX price grew over 400% from around $0.03 to about $0.16 as the entire crypto market ran up. The price of TRX thereafter dived to around $0.05 by July 2021. However, the token recovered again in the second half of 2021 and closed the year above $0.07 levels.

How TRX works

In the proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism, token holders can become network validators, who are tasked with verifying transactions and arranging them in blocks. However, TRON uses the DPoS mechanism, which means not all TRX holders can become validators. 

TRON network tasks 27 super representatives (SRs) with validating transactions, who are elected through open voting. TRX holders can vote for their preferred SRs by staking or locking their TRX tokens. The SRs are rewarded in TRX for validating transactions, which are then shared with TRX holders who voted for the SR. 

The TRON network claims that using DPoS allows it to process more transactions in a shorter period. Compared to 15-20 transactions per second (TPS) on Ethereum and around 5-6 TPS on Bitcoin, Tron can process around 2,000 TPS — one of the key benefits its founder Justin Sun promotes.

TRON SRs are also responsible for suggesting updates and improvements to the TRON network. The proposals can be voted on by TRX holders, which gives TRX additional utility as a governance token. 

TRX news, updates, and highlights

Tron generated the most buzz in June 2018, when it acquired file-sharing service BitTorrent — which had a reputation for enabling piracy of copyrighted material — for about $140 million. Within two months, there was a string of employees who either left or were dismissed because of disagreements over the future direction of the company. From the start, Tron and Sun have been embroiled in controversies and allegations — this includes an allegation that the Tron whitepaper was plagiarized. 

Sun and the Tron Foundation, the non-profit behind Tron, were also accused of workplace hostilities in a lawsuit filed by two former employees in October 2019. While the court had ordered arbitration, the former employees who were sacked by Tron, challenged the decision in July 2020.

In other news, the Tron Foundation partnered with non-fungible tokens (NFTs) marketplace APENFT and WINKLink to launch a $300 million fund called the Tron Arcade in August 2021. The fund intended to invest in play-to-earn games over the next three years. 

The Tron Foundation also launched a $100 million fund in partnership with APENFT in November 2021 to support NFT projects. The fund was aimed at helping NFT creators, and providing them with legal and copyright protection guidance.  

In December 2021, Sun announced that he is stepping down from Tron, leaving the future of the blockchain in the hands of the TRX coin holders. However, Sun remains an ardent promoter of the TRON network. 

Frequently asked questions about LTC

• Can you mine or stake TRX?

Since Tron uses the DPoS consensus system, it is not possible to mine TRX. However, you can stake TRX to vote for SRs and share the rewards for securing the network.

• What are some of the best TRX wallets?

You can store your TRX coins in a range of desktop, hardware, web and mobile wallets, including Ledger, Trezor, Tronscan, MetaMask, Trust Wallet and more. 

• What can you do with TRX?

You can use TRX as a store of value and trade it on exchanges for profit, depending on market conditions. You can also stake TRX to vote for SRs and play a part in securing the network, or use your TRX coins to vote on governance proposals. You can also use your TRX tokens to pay gas fees when using the TRON blockchain. 

• How to buy TRX?

There are several ways of buying TRX. You can use your local fiat currency to purchase TRX on exchanges like Nexo, eToro, among others, or use other cryptocurrencies like BTC, ETH, USDT, USDC etc. to buy TRX on exchanges like HitBTC and more.