TRON boasts of being the world's fastest-growing blockchain with over 18 million accounts and 1.4 billion transactions passing through its ecosystem. Now, with a growing number of decentralized applications (dApps) being built on TRON, it is quickly becoming a cost-effective competitor to Ethereum. Furthermore, The TRON ecosystem has seen huge growth over recent months, with a host of cryptocurrency platforms and DeFi protocols built on the TRON blockchain. But, what is TRON and the TRX token?   

In this article, we’re going to dive deep into the TRON ecosystem and explore the many different applications and services built on TRON. Also, we’ll explore the TRX token and the role it plays within the TRON ecosystem.

Decentralized Finance (DeFi) is at the forefront of innovation in technology and finance. If you want to learn how to build your own decentralized applications on the blockchain, Ivan on Tech Academy is the best place to start! Ivan on Tech Academy is the premier blockchain education suite, with cryptocurrency courses tailored to suit all levels of experience. 

Check out our DeFi 101 and DeFi 201 courses to find out how easy it is to build your own dApps and deploy them on the blockchain. Conveniently, Ivan on Tech Academy has all the resources you need in one place. Our students can also create a personalized study plan, executed with the help of a dedicated mentor. There has never been a better time to get involved in this exciting industry, so check out Ivan on Tech Academy today to start your crypto journey on the right foot!

TRON Ecosystem Background

Established in September 2017 by founder and CEO Justin Sun, The TRON Foundation operates from dual headquarters based in America and the Asia Pacific region. The TRON Foundation's primary ethos is to decentralize the internet and use technology to change the world.

What Is TRON?

In short, TRON is a blockchain-powered ecosystem of innovative protocols and applications. Fueled by the goal of becoming a global, decentralized, free entertainment network, the TRON ecosystem has consistently been developing and expanding its network to achieve this, and more. Blockchain, by default, provides the technology to safely and verifiably remove the ‘middleman’ from transactions. In TRON’s case, the design was to remove the third-party intermediaries between content creators and content consumers within the digital entertainment industry. 

Using peer-to-peer network technology, TRON has created decentralized data storage solutions allowing anyone to create content applications directly on top of the TRON blockchain. Furthermore, consumers of content can pay the creators directly using smart contracts. Consequently, this eliminates a large cut that is often taken from centralized entertainment distributors, such as Netflix or Amazon. In turn, the TRON ecosystem creates a more profitable content distribution application for creators. Moreover, following the ethos of the TRON Foundation, this forms a level playing field for all creators to showcase their work. This is as opposed to the control of viewing and distribution of content through centralized media networks.

In addition to the decentralized digital entertainment network, the TRON ecosystem has developed substantially. Further, in this article, we have explored the wide variety of applications available. However, to gain a solid understanding of how the TRON ecosystem operates, we have explained TRON’s native TRX token's roles and functions.

TRX Token

The TRONIX token (TRX) was issued by the TRON Foundation and is used as the foundational currency on the TRON blockchain. Other tokens created on the TRON blockchain derive their value from the TRX token. Therefore, TRX is the basic unit of account throughout the TRON ecosystem and powers the dApps within the TRON ecosystem.

TRX Token Use Cases

The TRX token has several use cases, referred to as “Application Scenarios”. These include:

  • Credit card payments
  • Purchasing items from WeChat stores
  • Obtaining energy and bandwidth
  • Receiving Airdrops
  • Receiving rewards for participating in the TRONics Support Plan

TRC20-USDT

Popular stablecoin USDT is now issued on the TRON blockchain thanks to TRC20-USDT. This standard of stablecoin enables zero-fee transfers and ultra-fast delivery across the TRON ecosystem. Also, the TRC20 standard allows interoperability between dApps on the TRON blockchain.

Exploring the TRON Ecosystem

The TRON ecosystem expands far and wide, from community projects and decentralized exchanges to a wallet with a further ecosystem within itself! To facilitate such applications on a mass adoption scale, TRON has created DAppchain. DAppchain has been created to remove some of the computational power and energy from the main TRON blockchain. As a result, this reduces fees, increases the speed and efficiency of transactions and applications. 

DAppchain consists of multiple sidechains connected to the TRON blockchain, using the same DPoS consensus algorithm. Developers using the TRON blockchain can easily migrate projects or create a new application on any DAppchain sidechain. DAppchain is smart contract compatible and can facilitate nearly every feature of the TRON main blockchain. 

Below, we have explored several other aspects of the TRON ecosystem and their position in helping to decentralize the web.

TronWallet (Klever.io)

TronWallet was introduced towards the latter end of 2018. Compatible with iOS and Android, the app seamlessly integrates every feature a trader or investor would need. Moreover, TronWallet allows users to create and manage multiple wallets within the app.

Users can access, send, and pay with TRX tokens using a QR code or wallet address. Also, users can view and keep track of every transaction that occurred on the app. TronWallet makes it easy to store friends and family’s addresses within the app’s address book. Furthermore, TronWallet offers a voting platform where users can stake their TRX to vote for the super representatives (explained below).

As the app leaped from success to success, TronWallet has become one of the most-used blockchain applications in the crypto space. Moreover, in 2020, TronWallet became a multi-chain wallet platform expanding outside the TRON ecosystem, integrating interoperable features with the Bitcoin and Ethereum blockchains. This opened up a plethora of new tokens for users to access through the app.

With over 25,000 happy daily active users, and after three years of development, TronWallet transitioned to its fourth-generation wallet platform Klever.io in July 2020. This facilitated interoperability with every blockchain. The philosophy behind Klever is “financial freedom through the empowerment of the individual”. Klever allows users to be in complete ownership of their funds and private keys. Klever.io consists of four key constituents; Klever Labs, Klever Exchange, Klever Wallet, and Klever OS. 

With these elements combined, the Klever.io app is a one-stop-shop app that caters to newcomers to experienced traders alike. Klever.io aims to increase its users' knowledge about trading, investing, and the cryptocurrency space. They hope to achieve this through AI-powered personalized educational material promoted throughout the app. 

TRON Super Representatives

As mentioned briefly exploring TronWallet, users can stake their TRX tokens to vote for a super representative. Super representatives (SR) are responsible for creating blocks and confirming transactions, receiving rewards for doing so. The top 27 voted-for SR candidates will be successful in achieving SR status. Candidates that came in between 28th-127th place will become so-called “super partners”. Super partners receive voting rewards, with all SR candidates, SRs, plus super partners gaine the right to raise proposals to the network.

Moralis Money
Stay ahead of the markets with real-time, on-chain data insights. Inform your trades with true market alpha!
Get Started

This is achieved through freezing and unfreezing tokens. Freezing tokens generates TRON Power which in turn is used to vote for a super representative. The integration between TronWallet and Klever.io makes it super simple and straight-forward to navigate the app and vote for your chosen SR.

PoloniDEX

The decentralized exchange arm of the TRON ecosystem is known as PoloniDEX. Here, users can trade their TRX tokens, or USDT or UDSJ tokens, with hundreds of token pairs. PoloniDEX is a popular application within the ecosystem for TRON users, with a simple, familiar interface on the exchange. 

When using the PoloniDEX application, be mindful of the use of your bandwidth and energy resources. Each transaction initiated will use both bandwidth and energy. Users are given 5000 BP bandwidth resources every 24 hours for free (bandwidth resources do not accumulate over time). Users can generate additional energy or bandwidth by freezing TRX tokens on the exchange (only one resource at a time). 

If users run out of bandwidth resources, the platform will take the value for resources directly from TRX holdings.

TRONScan

Another key feature of the TRON ecosystem is the TRONScan blockchain explorer. Similar to Etherscan, this allows all transactions on the TRON blockchain to be traced. Also, TRONScan acts as a portal to access key on-chain metrics and analytics.

TRONScan is essential for ensuring transparency throughout the TRON ecosystem. Furthermore, the TRONScan explorer incorporates a real-time news feed for important updates such as scheduled maintenance and API adjustments.

Also, TRONScan is home to JustStable, a collateralized debt position (CDP) portal enabling instant access to DeFi for users of the TRON Network. The JustStable CDP portal can be easily integrated with TRON LINK and Ledger wallets.

If you would like to learn on a more technical level how blockchains and block explorers operate, check out Ivan on Tech Academy’s Ethereum 101 and Blockchain & Bitcoin 101 courses! Here, you will discover everything you need to know to get started in the blockchain industry. On the other hand, if you’d prefer to learn how to safely create an exchange account, buy, trade, and store your coins, then the Crypto Basics course would be perfect for you!

JustLend

The JustLend platform facilitates lending and borrowing in a similar way to other DeFi protocols such as Aave and Compound. Users can earn yield by providing liquidity to the protocol.

Also, JustLend uses a decentralized governance model, meaning holders of the JST token will vote on any future changes to the JustLend protocol. Additionally, JustLend displays a risk-meter, indicating the risk value of any debt positions and liquidation risk.

JustSwap

JustSwap is TRON’s equivalent of popular decentralized exchange, Uniswap. Users of JustSwap can swap any TRON tokens with ease, using a familiar and straightforward interface. 

Similar to many Ethereum-based decentralized applications, JustSwap uses liquidity pools to facilitate token swaps to be used across the TRON ecosystem. Simply connect your TRONLink wallet and you’re good to go!

JustLink

JustLink is a decentralized oracle offering running on the TRON network. The JustLink oracle ensures tamperproof information can be brought on and off-chain in a trustless, permissionless way. Also, the JustLink oracle validates information before it is appended to the blockchain. This is to ensure that smart contracts only receive reliable data.

The JustLink oracle service is upheld by a network of decentralized nodes, operating in a similar way to other popular oracles such as Chainlink and Band Protocol. By providing reliable price feeds for decentralized applications, the JustLink oracle is helping to accelerate the growth of the TRON ecosystem.

TRON Ecosystem & TRX Token Summary

In conclusion, the TRON ecosystem has gone from strength-to-strength in recent years. Many speculate that it could become the go-to platform for blockchain developers if the issues with high gas fees on Ethereum are not resolved soon.

The TRON ecosystem boasts an impressive range of tools and services that rival many major blockchains in the DeFi space. With an impressive marketing strategy and a growing dedicated following, we can expect to see more good things emerging from the TRON ecosystem in the coming months.

Finally, you can keep up to date with everything occurring in the TRON ecosystem through their Medium blog. Each week, TRON releases a weekly report written in 15 different languages. This informs users of updates, releases, and any issues that may have arisen and resolved.

Blockchain is the most in-demand hard skill on LinkedIn right now and there has never been a better time to become a blockchain expert. Also, blockchain developers demand a handsome salary! 

Ivan on Tech Academy is the best place to become a certified blockchain developer in no-time! If you want to create your own crypto project or become the go-to person in your company for all-things blockchain, check out our Fintech 101 course and Blockchain Business Masterclass. With Ivan on Tech Academy, you can acquire all the skills and knowledge needed to put you at the forefront of this new technology. Not only does this give you an advantage in the workplace, but it also broadens your understanding of financial technology.