Protocol Highlight: TRON Network

Welcome to our protocol highlight of the month. Today, we highlight the TRON Network, one of the world’s leading decentralized protocols. 

We bring on core members of leading protocols each month to better understand their story. 

Today, we chatted with David Uhryniak, the leader of ecosystem development at TRON DAO. David spent 10+ years on the buy side and in traditional finance and came across crypto during his time at Deloitte.

We really enjoyed learning about Dave’s passion for stablecoins and how he thinks TRON is the blockchain for good.

Read more to learn about Dave’s story and why developers and builders should use TRON.

What is your story Dave? How did you get into crypto, and how did you end up at TRON?

I began in blockchain in 2016 and had discovered Bitcoin a few years before. By studying blockchain, I began to identify how the technology could be applied and believed then, as I do now, that it would be truly transformational to the global economy. 

I joined TRON DAO two and a half years ago in January 2022. Since then TRON has come a long way, as has the crypto industry overall. There have been so many events of significant importance during that time, both good and bad. Sometimes more bad than good. But as an industry and as a blockchain ecosystem, we have persevered and now thrive. The people I collaborate with at TRON DAO are some of the most interesting and passionate people that I have ever worked with. All of the TRON DAO contributors believe that crypto is the future and that TRON is and will continue to be a significant player in the evolution of the industry.

How did your time on the buyside studying financial services shape how you view the work you do today at TRON? How do you think stablecoins with shape payments?

That is a really interesting question. My time covering financial services provided a solid foundation and a thorough understanding of financial services operations. Understanding where the risks lie in a TradFi institution is very helpful. Perhaps even more helpful is understanding the redundancies and inefficiencies of TradFi. This is particularly helpful when looking at the payments space and identifying the benefits of stablecoins.

Stablecoins have the potential to not only revolutionize payments, but also the entirety of the financial system. 

Transforming payments is fairly obvious. The most significant benefit is to remove the multiple intermediaries that are involved in each TradFi transaction. The global payments business is a multi-trillion dollar industry and payments contribute ~40% of total bank revenues. That’s approximately 2 to 3 trillion dollars, globally, that doesn’t need to go to banks. It could stay with merchants and consumers. In doing so, it means more money in consumers pockets, more revenue for merchants, particularly small, independent merchants. That is hugely transformational.

Not only payments will be impacted. Consumers, if they desire, have the opportunity to create their own monetary system. What that means is that stablecoin holders who truly want to avoid fiat currency as much as possible, but don’t want to spend bitcoin, can hold a stablecoin that is backed by a commodity, such as gold. By shifting any fiat to a gold-backed stablecoin, it is possible to insulate oneself from much of the inflation that is inherent in centrally planned fiat currencies.

TRON has a substantial amount of stablecoin activity. How did TRON use network effects to become so dominant with stablecoins and achieve so many TRON Wallet holders?

A key factor in growing and maintaining a healthy crypto ecosystem is incentive compatibility. This means creating a network that allows everyone to benefit from participating and contributing to the ecosystem. We need to ensure that the ecosystem's success directly contributes to the success of individual community members. That will encourage ongoing participation, which supports the long-term stability and growth of the ecosystem. 

TRON is the preferred transport layer for USDT transactions because it is more stable with competitive transaction fees, making microtransactions feasible. This is crucial for daily financial activities in underserved, marginalized communities in regions with volatile currencies or little to no financial infrastructure. The stability and predictability makes USDT on TRON more accessible and approachable for everyone. 

We have seen substantial adoption in emerging markets around the world. TRON's affordability makes it a viable option for these regions. Specific examples from our community highlight activity in Argentina, Turkey, and various African countries. For instance in Argentina, where crypto adoption rates are among the highest, people frequently use USDT on TRON for everyday transactions, such as paying bills and making daily purchases. This trend is largely driven by the country's economic situation, and users find USDT on TRON to be a reliable and stable option. 

I see stablecoins taking on an increasingly important role in the global economy, especially in regions with volatile currencies or little to no financial infrastructure. More and more people around the world will use stablecoins for everyday transactions.

What is the biggest misconception of TRON? How can TRON become a blockchain for good?

TRON's ecosystem supports various services offered by third parties. Anyone can have access to transaction accounts and participate in lending or borrowing without the need for traditional banking infrastructures. This accessibility is critical for financial inclusion because it allows individuals to save and manage their finances securely and transparently. We have already been seeing the impact particularly strongly in financial inclusion. The long-term vision of the TRON DAO has always been to maintain a sustainable and inclusive blockchain ecosystem and we remain dedicated to this mission.. 

We often get questions from institutions and fintechs, what users are doing on TRON?

There is a lot of activity in GameFi, SocialFi, infrastructure, storage, RWA, DeFi and more that do not always get captured by TVL calculations. Twice a year, we bring together developers, entrepreneurs, designers, and anyone passionate about decentralized technologies for our HackaTRON event. Over the years, HackaTRON has grown with consistent prize pools and fresh tracks each season to reflect current trends. For instance, Season 6 offers a total prize pool of up to $650,000. We have a Builder track to spotlight existing ecosystem developers while giving new developers a fair chance in other tracks. This season also includes an Energy allocation to subsidize new users and encourage them to explore new hackathon projects. Additionally, participants gain access to our extensive network of industry professionals and funding. 

What are some interesting applications built on TRON?

To introduce a few, there is an RWA protocol in the TRON ecosystem called stUSDT. stUSDT is the first and one of the largest rebase RWA protocols with over $269 million in TVL on TRON (as of June 2024). Created by RWA DAO, stUSDT provides fair and equal access to real-world assets for all users. 

There is also a native marketplace on TRON created by the developers at APENFT specifically for inscription tokens. There's now a dedicated place where users can deploy, trade, and mint inscriptions, all within the TRON network.

Why should developers and fintechs build on TRON? How are traditional tech companies like Google, Grab, etc, getting involved?

TRON is focused on integrating blockchain technology more deeply into the global economy and making it a natural part of how the world does business. As of June 2024, the TRON network has over 239 million total accounts. Importantly, the user base is very active, as they are accustomed to transacting onchain with their TRON wallet. The user base makes P2P transactions at a rate that is between 2x and 3x of similar transactions on Ethereum. 

This large and active user base provides developers a great chance for their apps to gain widespread adoption and success by giving builders access to a massive audience. Not only does TRON have a built-in and active user base, we have partnered with industry leaders to provide additional support for builders. 

Google Cloud has been phenomenal in supporting innovation in the Web3 space. Like any other Super Representative, they'll help TRON's blockchain governance by validating transactions and producing blocks, boosting the network's security and efficiency. 

And in an effort to provide more support for builders, TRON has also integrated with Google Cloud's BigQuery, which gives developers access to advanced tools to dissect blockchain transactions and smart contract intricacies on the network. BigQuery's scalability and cost-efficiency will make it easier to build more sophisticated dapps. TRON will also leverage Google Cloud's Compute Engine for scalable computing power and Kubernetes Engine for managing containerized applications. With Google Cloud on board, TRON is able to offer more support to builders, and I'm excited to see the positive impact their participation in governance will bring.

The large user base and expanded capabilities are already attracting enterprise and others. Traditional, web 2 institutions are showing more interest and are becoming actively involved. Recently, an app called Grab, the Uber of Singapore, has started accepting USDT on TRON for payments. So TRC20-USDT holders can pay for their rides or food delivery directly without converting to fiat currency. I expect a growing trend where more international e-commerce platforms will integrate with TRON and accept crypto transactions for everyday services.

Blockchain technology has a huge potential to transform how individuals and communities make financial decisions globally and if we approach this problem strategically, I believe we can build innovative solutions that solve real-world issues. It’s not just about expanding the crypto community, but it's about integrating blockchain technology more deeply into the global economy and making it a natural part of how the world does business. I believe a scalable blockchain like TRON could become a global, mainstream settlement layer in the near future.

How does TRON use or hope to use Artemis to understand stablecoin activity?

I’ve always strongly advocated for transparency and accuracy in blockchain data and analytics. With Artemis, I hope individuals and developers in the TRON ecosystem will be further empowered with the data they need to make informed decisions, ultimately enhancing the stability of our industry.

Key metrics: TRON vs L1 Networks

Andrew here, data scientist at Artemis! You can also find me on X here

TRON tops our list of most active addresses with 2.1mn DAA per day (7 day avg) and activity has been increasing since the start of 2024. While other high performance chains have launched, TRON has been able to maintain its market share and continue to drive usage.

Part of the key to TRON success is the stablecoin activity on the blockchain. TRON has seen consistent growth in all stablecoin metrics and recently hit an all time high in terms of circulating supply at $60bn. Addresses using stablecoins on TRON is also near all time highs and is well above Binance Smart Chain, the second highest chain.

A unique angle of TRON is how much the network is used for P2P transfers. Artemis classifies P2P transfers as those going from an EOA to EOA and TRON leads all blockchains in this metric. TRON consistently has 2-3x as much P2P transfer volume as Ethereum, indicating TRON is facilitating more(?) payments and money transfers, compared to DeFi activity.  

Finally, TRON has consistently been able to keep average transaction fees low, while sustaining significant activity. The average transaction cost on TRON is 90% lower than Bitcoin and over 80% lower than Ethereum. 

Thanks for reading! Want to contact Dave at Tron? Feel free to email us at [email protected], and we'd be happy to introduce you.

*Average transactions are calculated by adding all fees paid by users in TRX to use the chain, divided by the total transaction count. The denominator includes free transactions for staking Tron.

Artemis Disclaimer: The authors, affiliates, or stakeholders of Artemis may hold interests in the tokens or protocols mentioned in this content. This disclosure highlights potential conflicts of interest and is not an endorsement to buy or invest in any specific token or protocol. The content is for educational and informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice in any form.

Readers should approach this information cautiously and consider their unique circumstances before making investment decisions. The views and opinions expressed are subject to change without notice, and Artemis bears no liability for any loss or damage arising from the use of this information.