What is TRON, and what is it trying to accomplish?
According to the official white paper:
TRON is a world-leading blockchain-based decentralized protocol that aims to construct a worldwide free content entertainment system with the blockchain and distributed storage technology. The protocol allows each user to freely publish, store and own data, and in the decentralized autonomous form, decides the distribution, subscription, and push of contents and enables content creators by releasing, circulating and dealing with digital assets, thus forming a decentralized content entertainment ecosystem.
If you are confused about the excerpt above, here is a simple explanation:
In today’s modern world, almost all content creation on the Internet is forced through giant conglomerate companies such as Google, Youtube, Apple, Spotify, etc. If you are a creator and want to make money from your website, videos, music, blogs, etc; you must go through these giant companies, which serve as “middle men”. They provide the platform for your content, but also take a percentage of the profit your content generates through clicks, likes, views, streams, listens. They have full control over how much THEY want to pay YOU for the content YOU created. In addition, not only do these companies control how much you earn for your content, they also have the ability to censor and control what you create for your content.
This problem with censorship has become a HUGE issue within the Youtube community, sparked by Youtube demonetizing videos that do not fall in line with their “advertisement-friendly” guidelines.
In August 2016, YouTube introduced a new system to notify users of violations of the “advertiser-friendly content” rules, and allow them to appeal. Following its introduction, many prominent YouTube users began to accuse the site of engaging in de facto censorship, arbitrarily disabling monetization on videos discussing various topics such as skin care, politics, and LGBT history.
Solution? TRX and the TRON protocol!
As stated in the whitepaper, Tron’s goal is to create a worldwide free content entertainment ecosystem. They plan to accomplish this by cutting out the giant corporate “middle men” and putting all the profit earning potential back into the content creator’s hands. This means that when a user of the TRON protocol creates content, let’s say for example, a video, they can upload it directly to the TRON blockchain and get paid directly for how viral their video gets. Each upvote, like, clap, view that their video gets, they will receive direct compensation for, without the need of large companies like Youtube cutting into creator profits. The worldwide community on the TRON protocol will decide what it deems worthy of success, without the problem of censorship or corporate control looming over the heads of creators.
It is important to note, becoming the solution to the problem above is not TRON’s only goal.
Solving the problem of centralized entertainment content may be a “Micro” goal for TRON, but the “Macro” goal is much greater. TRON’s “Macro” goal is to completely reshape how we as a global society interact via the Internet and blockchain as a whole on a truly decentralized platform ecosystem.
One way to view TRX is to view it as the “exchange” currency on the TRON protocol blockchain.
There will be many companies built on the TRON blockchain that will use their own individual company cryptocoins, but TRX will be intertwined as the mediator between all of them.
Take for example:
This is you.
Let’s say you just so happen to use a Bike Sharing application on your phone that is partnered with TRON and built on the TRON blockchain.
You would have the potential to gain “rewards” correlated to the bike rental time and total distance you rode, in the form of tokens received from the Bike Sharing Application company. You could then use these tokens you earned from the Bike Sharing company, and use them to buy a cup of your favorite coffee, who’s company is built on the TRON network as well OR maybe even spend the tokens on finally buying that virtual dog that’s been giving you the puppy eyes! You would not have to do any of the dirty work of manually swapping your bike tokens for coffee tokens, it would all be done automatically within the TRON protocol with TRX in the middle of it all.
Updates on “Real World” Use Case Progress
1. oBike Partnership
On December 26th 2017,
Tron announced a partnership with oBike, a multi-national bike sharing company that operates in 20 countries across Europe, Asia and Australia, ~10 million total users.
oBike will have it’s own form of currency “oCoin” that will be used on the Tron protocol platform, and transferred into TRX before/after transactions.
3 Simple Steps to Using oBike:
“In a world’s first of its kind, users will soon be able to ride and earn, thanks to the new partnership”
“oBike users will be able to pay for their rides and top up their oBike wallets using oCoins”
Users can generate oCoins when they use oBikes, with more coins earned the longer they ride.
oCoins can also be used to buy online content or be used on any application that is on Tron’s platform,
i.e. gifts on Peiwo app, or virtual pets on Pet Planet.
How it works.
To clarify on the last point, all applications and partnerships on the TRON platform will allow for native, individual company coin usage(i.e oCoin, GTC + whatever future coins are used on the TRON protocol). This is because all transactions on the protocol will be turned into TRX automatically before processing, and transferred back to the user in their appropriate coin. This will allow the TRON protocol to host many different company’ coins, while at the same time, allowing them all to interact with each other without the extra hassle of having the user constantly switching between different coins.
oBike “ Flashman” — Delivery Service
On Janurary 9th 2018,
an app update gave users the option of delivering their items to a destination of their choice. It promises deliveries that are as fast as two hours.
This feature is similar to the application UberEats, where you can order fast food or food from restaurants, and have it delivered directly to your home.
This added feature is significant because it separates oBike from their competition, such as oFo and Mobike, by providing a service they do not provide.
This newly added service + the news that they are starting a franchise expansion strategy,
in which they plan to invite partners to run its on-the-ground operations in various countries in exchange for a share of the revenue and support from oBike headquarters,
gives high expectations to oBike’s continued future success and global expansion.
2. Partnership with Game.com and release of Pet Planet/Love.Pet game!
Following in the footsteps of Ethereum’s massively popular, CryptoKitties, Tron is hoping to introduce their own blockchain technology to the public masses in a fun and friendly way, Pets Planet/Love.Pet! created by the Game.com’s development team.
With CryptoKitties having produced over $18 Million in total sales since release, there is clear potential for success in this type of gaming, that is IFTRON and the Game.com staff can improve on the pitfalls CryptoKitties have with their game, such as oversupplying and overbreeding of cats.
With more information being released daily, it seems TRON is taking steps to ensure oversupply and overbreeding do not become a problem with their “Store Front” system.
For a complete explanation and breakdown of Pet Planet, check out the article I wrote about it here:
TRON Pet Planet — A clear and in-depth breakdown of the game and how to play
Retweeted by Happy, the CEO of Game.com
EDITOR’S NOTE: Dog just so happens to be the Chinese New Year Zodiacfor 2018. Wouldn’t be hard to imagine every person in China wanting their own rare virtual “lucky” dog this year. Just speculating! Fidget spinners were a thing in 2017, virtual pets in 2018 doesn’t seem so irrational by comparison.
3. TRON and Peiwo App Integration Complete!
On Feburary 7th 2018,
Peiwo APP declared the successful connection of TRX and Peiwo APP.
https://medium.com/@Tronfoundation/peiwo-app-and-trons-trx-integration-finished-9fbcb49feb09
Peiwo users can now deposit and withdraw TRX onto and off of Peiwo with the use of a cryptocurrency wallet. In addition, users can also purchase and donate virtual gifts to one another,also known as “tipping”.
This tipping feature is similar to Twitch’s donation feature, Bits, which fans use to donate and support their favorite streamers and content providers.
With Peiwo’s over 10 million global registered users and more than one million monthly active users, TRON will successfully spread awareness of TRX to a young demographic user-base, with users mainly between the ages of 16 and 25.
Peiwo has also been recognized by China’s Ministry of Science and Technology + the Ministry of Finance and State Administration of Taxation as a certified National High-Tech Enterprise in China.
https://twitter.com/justinsuntron/status/961460001729638400
This certificate is regarded as the highest certification for technology enterprises in China.
The status certificate will be valid for three years after the issue date, affording the enterprise with tax incentives such as a reduced 15 percent corporate income tax (CIT) and staff training reimbursements.
The certificate also has strict requirements which ensure that these companies continue to focus on researching and developing the latest and most cutting edge technology.
Additional information on these requirements can be found here.
4. Partnership with Global Social Chain(GSC), a social network with over 100 million+ total registered users!
On January 27th 2018,
TRON announced that it has built a strategic partnership with GSC (Global Social Chain).
In the future, TRON will help GSC by providing support in terms of funding, technology and infrastructure. GSC will carry out optimization based on the TRON Network, in order to jointly facilitate development of blockchain-based social system.
GSC has a long-term relationship with Mico, a mobile social platform for the global market, which was launched in February 2015. Quickly accumulating hundreds of millions of users, Mico entered the top five social tables in more than 60 countries, becoming the world’s premier open social platform. A social matrix is built around the social platform on Mico, including the applications: Mico, Kitty Live, Waka, and YAY.
Mico, once rated “Best App” by Google, is the largest social platform among strangers in Southeast Asia and Middle East, with more than 100 million registered users!
Kitty Live, with over 20 million registered users, is one of the most popular streaming Apps in Southeast Asia.
This strategic partnership between TRON and GSC means that at least 120 million users of social and streaming platforms will get access to the TRON Network.
The number of mobile app users that will become exposed and familiar with TRON is growing rapidly with each additional partnership!
TRON will soon become a globally recognized brand and household name!
5. Partnership with Gifto/Uplive!
Gifto, a new universal virtual gifting blockchain platform, launched by Asia Innovation Group, the creator of Uplive, a live streaming mobile application with over 20 million users has announced a partnership with TRON.
Gifto will leverage TRON’s underlying technology to help facilitate massive transactions of users using virtual gifts.
The first use-case of this partnership has already been launched with Peiwo’s virtual gift tipping system, powered by Gifto.
Every month, millions of people use Uplive to view live streamed content from over 60,000 content creators on their platform. The company has stated that it will earn over $100 million of projected revenue in 2017 alone from virtual gifting on Uplive.
With Gifto, this technology of virtual gifting is being brought to the blockchain so that virtual gifts can be created, bought, sent and tracked across any content platform.
The first step is complete, Gifto integrated with Peiwo.
The next steps will be to integrate Gifto onto the GSC social network partnered with TRON, an implementation that will reach over 100 million registered users!
Team Behind TRON
It is clear that a project of this potential magnitude benefits from and also requires the use of global partnerships and strong multi-national business networking skills to have any chance of success.
Fortunately for TRON, this is EXACTLY where some investors believe TRON shines the brightest. With TRON’s “overly” vocal, extremely passionate creator, Justin Sun and the team behind TRON.
JUSTIN SUN — Creator
· Former Chief Representative for Ripple in Greater China.
· Forbes’ List 30 under 30 — Asia for Consumer Technology
· Founder/CEO of Peiwo — China’s “Snapchat” Equivalent — 10 million users
· Alumni of Hupan University — an extremely selective University created by the Alibaba Group founder.
Many like to downplay the connection between Justin Sun and Alibaba Group founder as just that of a student and teacher. However, if one were to do more extensiveresearch on Hupan University, a much more personal and mutually benefiting connection can be found between Hupan University’s founders and students.
A brief translated summary on the origins of Hupan University:
Hupan University has always been very open about its selective nature for students. By admitting only 44 out of over 1000 applications in 2017, its acceptance rate (4.07%) was lower than that of Stanford (4.7% for this year’s undergraduate college).
Selective huh? That’s not all.
Just to become an eligible applicant, one has to:
· be the founder of a company that’s at least 3 years old, has more than 30 employees and an annual revenue of over 30 million yuan.
· provide proof of the business’s tax payment
· Get 3 accommodation letters, of which at least one must be from the University’s list of certified referees.
So take that in.
Over 1,000 potential students in 2017 meet the strict eligibility requirements listed above, of those 1,000 only the TOP 44 were accepted.
Zhouyi, staff member of Hupan University’s Curriculum and Technology Team quoted saying: “We decided to admit only 30–40 students each year because we believe in the power of intimacy and emotional connections when it comes to education.”
Lucien Chen — CTO, Technical Director/Lead
· renown ‘Big Data’ expert, has worked for Tencent and Alibaba
· served in many first-tier Internet companies, such as Netease (NASDAQ:NTES), Youdao, Tencent (00700.HK), Qihoo 360(NASDAQ:QIHU) and SM search (Alibaba P8 +).
· has the capabilities of developing million-level system architecture, has rich experience in big data, advertising algorithms, DMP systems, BT systems, CTR platforms and high concurrent system framework designs.
TRON has slowly been amassing a large team of developers these past few months, a list the current team can be seen here:
TRON Investors
Weixing Chen — Investor
· Hupan University Alumni
· Founder of Kuaidi, a ride-share service, refereed to as “Chinese Uber”
· Kuaidi had early investments from Jack Ma and Alibaba Group
“He is very ambitious. Out of China’s top 500 corporations, he hopes one day about 200 companies will be associated with Hupan University.” — Chen, speaking about Jack Ma
· Kuaidi has a company value of around $100 Billion dollars, if it were to be added to the TRON protocol, it would shoot TRON directly into the global media spotlight
Wei Dai
Wei Dai — Investor
· CEO of oFo, a $3 Billion valued Bike Sharing company
· operates over 10 million yellow-colored bicycles in 250 cities and 20 countries
· In July 2017, oFo received $700 million additional funding from investors including Alibaba Group
· has over 62.7 million monthly active users
Shuoji Zhou — Investor
· Founding Partner of FBG Capital- one of the world’s leading digital asset management firms
· considered as one of the most well-connected and visionary crypto hedge fund managers in Asia.
Xu Yiji — Investor
· One of the founders of Antshares, currently known as NEO
· former head of Ant Financial Services — (the financial company of Alibaba)
· member of the former Google Anti-Cheating Group
Plus many more which can be found at https://tron.network/.
CONCLUSION:
TRON may have one of the boldest, if not THE boldest vision for the future of any crypto currency. This type of vision for the future can often be dismissed as crazy or impossible, labeled a “shill” coin, until it becomes a reality. Within less than 5 months, TRON has amassed all of these partnerships, investors and progress that I have detailed in this article. They have accomplished all of this while staying in constant communication with investors and the community, despite language barriers between Chinese and International/English investors. They are still in the very early stages of development, and the TRON team themselves do not try to hide this fact.
“Great oaks from little acorns grow.”
In summation, TRON is a crypto with some “very crazy” goals, but if there is any team in the crypto space just crazy enough to pull it off, it might be TRON.
Thanks for reading!
· TwentySumCrypto
TRON (TRX) links:
Official Website: tron.network
Official Twitter: https://twitter.com/Tronfoundation and https://twitter.com/justinsuntron
Official Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/tronfoundation/
Official Slack: https://tronfoundation.slack.com/
Official Reddit Account: https://www.reddit.com/user/tron-official
Official Telegram English: t.me/tronnetworkEN
Official Telegram Korean: t.me/tronnetworkKR