The TRON project saw its initial life during the crypto bull market in 2017. It quickly gained the attention of many crypto enthusiasts and investors, growing dramatically in size. The protocol has attracted as many detractors as it has supporters over the years. From its approach of adapting existing technologies into its platform (which some people argued were much further than inspiration) to a heavy reliance on marketing and publicity stunts than any meaningful technological advances. Tron has remained a controversial project from the very beginning.
Perhaps the most popular move by the Tron Foundation was the purchase of the BitTorrent network and then releasing a token for it on the Tron protocol. This allowed the project to advertise its services to millions of users of the peer-to-peer file-sharing application. However, some users did not welcome the promotional campaign.
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The project which is based in China has also distinguished itself by heavily promoting in the Asian Pacific region. It routinely translates the documentation of the protocol to several of the most used languages in Asia and also creates viral campaigns with influencers to draw more people into the network.
It is safe to say, Tron has taken a different approach than most Decentralized Ledger Protocols (DLT) out there. Most of the other projects try to gain traction by introducing new technologies and features to the ecosystem. Tron relies more on a heavy emphasis on advertising with a somewhat unimpressive technological development. As stated before, most of the core functioning of Tron is made from technology already pioneered by other projects.
Despite all these, Tron is one of the most exciting crypto investments out there. This is especially so for Nigerians looking to enter the crypto economy by buying an undervalued cryptocurrency with massive potential.
Most other DLT projects attract the kind of people who deeply care about consensus algorithms, data architecture design, encryption, and other core technologies. These people, although important, won’t be the majority of the users when a protocol becomes successful. Most people don’t know or care that much about the tech, they just want a good UI that is easy to use and understand. This is where Tron excels. So, let’s give a basic overview of how the Tron network works.
An introduction to Tron
As we said before, Tron launched in 2017. Initially, it created an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum network as a way to finance the project. At the start of 2018 investors who got the token trade it for one running on the Tron network which already had some basic functionalities at the time. Since then, all Tron tokens have been running on the network and now it has become a coin, with the ticker TRX, since it is the native token of its protocol.
The Tron teamwork is comprised of three layers:
Core system: As with many other Blockchains Tron uses a Virtual Machine (VM). Here, computers send instructions written in Java or Solidity to the VM which are turned into bytecode that can be run on any system. This means Tron also has a global state, each transaction in the network has to be broadcasted to the whole system. This is how the protocol keeps track of account balances.
Application Layer: This is where applications and smart contracts interact with the Blockchain. It is there for developers and companies to utilize when creating new services.
Storage: It is the section that saves the information that is written directly into the Blockchain by the users and the smart contracts.
Consensus algorithm: The Tron Network runs by using Delegated Proof of State (DPoS). The network has a group of twenty-seven “Super Representatives” which validate transactions and propose the next block. Now, these representatives are not always the same, they change on a periodic basis. The Super Representatives rotate on a 6 hours basis.
Blocks in the Tron network are created every three seconds. The reward given by the network for every successful block produced is 32 TRX, which gives a total of 336,384,000 coins given as a reward per year. In order to be able to receive this reward, a user needs to stake its Tron on the network.
In order to vote, users lock an amount of TRX coins in a contract. This means that these funds are taken out of circulation for a period of time. In exchange for doing this, the user receives “Tron Power” which is equal to One Power per One TRX locked in the network. This allows the participants to vote, and delegate their stake to the Super Representatives, so as to gain rewards in TRX that can then be traded when the funds are withdrawn from the network.
As we can see, this is a rather common design for a Blockchain. No concept introduced here is new or particularly revolutionary. Yet, this tried and true approach means Tron is easy to understand for developers and users alike. Now let’s review some of the most promising projects out there.
Tether on Tron
That is right, the most popular FIAT backed stable coin in the market is partially issued on the Tron network. It was created in April of 2019 using the TRC-20 standar. Again, Tron is not particularly original in this regard. The token is accepted in some major exchanges out there such as Binance, Polinex, OKEX, KuCoin, and many others. As of the time of writing, there are 500 million dollars of USDT issued on Tron circulating in the markets.
As the Ethereum network gets congested due to its limitations and the rise of DeFi, gas prices get more expensive. This makes using Tether on Ethereum a very expensive transaction. Here is where Tether on Tron can become an excellent alternative. Any Nigerian used to using Tether can have the same reliable experience with the Tron alternative, minus the high costs of using Ethereum.
Read about everything you need to know about Defi apps and why ETH gas fee is on the rise.
Tron Card
The Tron card is a secure digital wallet hosted on the Tron network. It is capable of storing several cryptocurrencies and tokens not native to Tron. It is also a payment processor directly connected to the Tron Blockchain.
Tron Arcade
This is a 100 million USD fund designed to bolster game development using the Tron network. The project sees games as one of the main drivers of adoption in the industry right now. It already saw success when the popular game, CryptoDungeons decided to move their entire operation over to Tron. The use of games as the main funnel for adoption is not as crazy as it sounds.
Find out the effect of blockchain on the gaming industry.
As we can see Tron is a different kind of project. Most of the other Blockchains focus on cutting edge technology and hope the general public will be as excited by them as they are. Tron is a far more consumer focus operation that relies on proven tech and mass marketing for adoption.
Where to buy TRX from Nigeria?
Remitano is a peer-to-peer exchange that operates in more than 50 countries. It provides market liquidity and escrow services to those wishing to trade cryptocurrencies on a global market.
Find out how to invest in Tron (TRX) in Nigeria using the Nigerian Naira.
At the start of 2020, Remitano launched a web wallet that supports Naira and allows users to instantly trade from their wallet with the local currencies, other cryptocurrencies, and tokens.
The crypto assets currently open for trade on Remitano are:
Bitcoin (BTC)
Ethereum (ETH)
Litecoin (LTC)
Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
Ripple (XRP)
Tether (USDT)
Assets open for investment are:
EOS (EOS)
Binance Coin (BNB)
Cardano (ADA)
Stellar (XLM)
Tron (TRX)
Their native support for the Nigerian Naira and their direct involvement in supporting the Nigerian crypto-economy makes Remitano the best choice to buy TRX.
