In the early hours of June 4th, Justin Sun, founder of the cryptocurrency TRON, announced via social media that he had won the charity lunch auction with Warren Buffett for $4.56 million. Sun stated, "I have long been an admirer of Buffett’s value investing philosophy. I look forward to inviting leading figures from the blockchain industry to join this lunch to foster greater understanding and friendship between top traditional investors and the digital currency community."
This announcement attracted significant attention, particularly since Buffett has publicly expressed skepticism toward Bitcoin on multiple occasions, famously calling it "rat poison" and "a gambling device."
The cryptocurrency community widely recognizes Justin Sun for his role in creating TRON and its native token, TRX. With a circulating market cap that once reached $13 billion and still stands at $2.2 billion, many are curious about how this digital asset achieved such prominence.
Understanding TRON and Its Mission
Public records indicate that the TRON Foundation was established in Singapore in July 2017. According to cryptocurrency data platforms, TRON aims to advance the decentralization of the internet by building essential infrastructure. The TRON protocol offers a blockchain-based operating system for decentralized applications (dApps), supporting high throughput, scalability, and reliability. It also enhances compatibility with Ethereum smart contracts through its pluggable smart contract platform.
TRX, the native token of the TRON network, is used to pay transaction fees and incentivize participants.
The Initial Coin Offering and Early Growth
In the second half of 2017, initial coin offerings (ICOs) gained momentum, and many projects raised substantial funds using little more than whitepapers and repurposed code. During this period, TRON entered the market with significant advantages: its founder, Justin Sun, was a graduate of Peking University and the University of Pennsylvania, an early participant in Alibaba’s Hupan Academy, and the former chief representative of Ripple in Greater China. Backed by investments from firms like IDG, TRON quickly gained traction.
The ICO for TRX took place between August 1 and August 15, 2017. A total of 100 billion tokens were issued at a starting price of $0.0015 per token. The allocation was divided as follows: 40% for public sale, 35% for the TRON Foundation and ecosystem, 15% for private sale, and 10% allocated to Peiwo Technology, a company linked to Justin Sun. Within just two weeks, the project raised approximately $58 million.
By January 2018, amid a broader cryptocurrency market rally, TRX reached an all-time high of around $0.195—a 130x increase from its ICO price. At its peak, TRX's circulating market cap reached $13 billion. Although the price later declined significantly, its market capitalization remains substantial. In 2019, TRX demonstrated several periods of growth even during market downturns. One industry insider noted, “While I don’t consider TRON’s technology particularly advanced, it’s hard to ignore their financial power in influencing the market.”
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Addressing Controversy and Criticism
From the beginning, TRON faced allegations of plagiarism. In April 2018, Justin Sun published a tweet listing seven reasons why TRX was superior to Ethereum. Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum's founder, responded by sarcastically suggesting that an eighth reason should be that “TRX whitepaper is much more efficiently copied and pasted.”
In response to these accusations, Sun argued that the concept of plagiarism held little relevance in the fast-moving blockchain industry. He explained that the original TRON whitepaper was written in Chinese and that volunteer translators may have introduced errors in the English, Korean, Japanese, and Spanish versions. He further stated, “In the business world, focusing on who copied whom is meaningless. Code in the crypto world is open-source, and projects often build on each other’s work. Ethereum itself borrowed from Bitcoin.” He emphasized that execution and commercial success matter more than ideas or whitepapers. Following the controversy, TRON removed the whitepaper from its official website and replaced it with three technical documents. For nearly a year afterward, TRON operated as a public blockchain project without a published whitepaper.
Strategic Expansion: BitTorrent and oBike Partnerships
Though founded in mid-2017, many still viewed TRON with skepticism well into 2018. However, by the second half of that year, the project began gaining momentum through strategic moves.
In June 2018, TRON acquired BitTorrent Inc.—the company behind the pioneering peer-to-peer file-sharing protocol—for $140 million. First released in 2001, the BitTorrent protocol was responsible for up to 40% of global internet traffic at its peak and remains one of the most widely used decentralized internet protocols. This acquisition marked a turning point for TRON. As one industry expert noted, “Even if the technology isn’t the most advanced, raising enough capital to acquire an established company can help sustain growth.”
Less than a year after the acquisition, BitTorrent launched its own token, BTT, as the first project on Binance’s Launchpad platform. At its debut, BTT reached a circulating market cap of over $300 million—more than twice what TRON paid to acquire the company. Currently, only 17.21% of the total BTT supply is in circulation.
In early 2019, TRON partnered with oBike, a Singapore-based bike-sharing company, to launch a new token called OCN. Within just ten days, the OCN token raised $47.6 million in its initial offering and reached a market capitalization of over $70 million. However, the token’s value has since declined dramatically and now trades nearly 80% below its original offering price.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is TRON?
TRON is a blockchain-based operating system designed to support decentralized applications. Its native cryptocurrency, TRX, is used to pay for transactions and participate in network governance.
How did TRON begin?
TRON conducted an initial coin offering (ICO) in August 2017, raising $58 million. The project gained attention due to its founder’s background and early institutional backing.
What was the controversy around TRON’s whitepaper?
The project faced allegations of plagiarizing content from other blockchain whitepapers, particularly Ethereum’s. Justin Sun responded by emphasizing the open-source nature of the industry and the importance of execution over ideas.
What is BitTorrent’s role in the TRON ecosystem?
TRON acquired BitTorrent Inc. in 2018, integrating one of the oldest and most widely used P2P protocols into its vision of a decentralized internet. BitTorrent later launched its own token, BTT.
How does TRON compare to Ethereum?
Both platforms support smart contracts and dApps, but TRON emphasizes higher scalability and lower transaction costs. However, Ethereum has a larger developer community and more established infrastructure.
Is TRX a good investment?
Like all cryptocurrencies, TRX carries significant risk. Its value has been volatile, and investors should conduct thorough research and consider market conditions before investing.