TRON (TRX) is the native coin of TRON, a layer-1 blockchain built on TVM (Tron Virtual Machine), an EVM-compatible but distinct chain, not Ethereum or Solana. It was founded by Justin Sun in July 2017 and supports smart contracts, decentralized applications, and payments.
TRON is the leading settlement network for the stablecoin USDT, handling roughly 51.4% of all circulating USDT as of August 2026, and surpassed 400 million total on-chain accounts on August 23, 2026. Consensus uses Delegated Proof-of-Stake with 27 elected Super Representatives producing blocks roughly every 3 seconds.
TRON's differentiation is its role as the dominant settlement rail for stablecoin transfers, particularly USDT, rather than competing primarily on general-purpose smart-contract features. As of August 30, 2026, the network generated $223.09 million in trailing 30-day fees and revenue, with ecosystem-wide TVL of $94.26 billion and 17,155,986 monthly active users.
TRX captures this activity directly: transaction fees are paid in TRX and retained/burned at the protocol level rather than routed to a separate treasury, linking on-chain usage growth to the token's economics.
TRX functions as both a utility and a governance-participation token. As a utility token, holders use TRX to pay network transaction fees and stake ("freeze") it to obtain bandwidth and energy needed to execute transactions and run smart contracts.
As a governance instrument, TRX holders vote to elect the network's Super Representatives, giving holders a direct role in network governance. A related but separate asset, Staked TRX, represents staked TRX positions.
TRON has no fixed maximum supply. Circulating supply was approximately 94.93 billion TRX as of August 30, 2026, with market capitalization and fully diluted valuation equal at approximately $31.89 billion, since no additional supply exists beyond the circulating figure.
Supply adjusts dynamically through network-tied minting and burning rather than a fixed schedule.
TRON Foundation conducted an ICO on Binance Launchpad from August 31 to September 2, 2017, raising approximately $70 million. TRON's mainnet ("Odyssey") launched in 2018, after which TRX migrated from an Ethereum ERC20 token to its own native mainnet coin — a launch/deployment date distinct from TRON's July 2017 founding.
Separately, in 2025 the Nasdaq-listed company Tron Inc. (formerly SRM Entertainment) raised corporate treasury financing paid in TRX: a $100 million PIPE on June 16, 2025, and a further $110 million via warrant exercise (312,500,100 TRX) in August 2025 — financing for that public company, not the TRON protocol.
TRON (TRX) runs on TRON, a native layer-1 blockchain built on TVM (Tron Virtual Machine), an EVM-compatible but distinct chain — not Ethereum or Solana. TRON uses Delegated Proof-of-Stake (DPoS): TRX holders elect 27 Super Representatives who produce blocks approximately every 3 seconds and validate transactions.
Roughly 100 additional candidates serve as backup Super Representative Partners. A block is considered solidified/irreversible once at least 19 distinct active Super Representatives have produced a block at or above that height, typically within about one minute.
Justin Sun founded TRON in July 2017 after previously working at Ripple, where he served as the company's chief representative for China. He also founded or acquired BitTorrent in 2018 and has since become closely associated with the HTX exchange as an advisor/owner figure per news reporting.
Sun relocated from China to the United States following China's 2017 ICO crackdown.
TRON was launched by the TRON Foundation, a nonprofit entity registered in Singapore by Justin Sun in July 2017, which maintains the protocol. Rainberry Inc. and the BitTorrent Foundation are related entities named alongside the TRON Foundation in past SEC litigation.
Separately, Tron Inc. (Nasdaq: TRON), formerly SRM Entertainment, became a distinct Nasdaq-listed public company via reverse merger completed July 17, 2025. It operates as a corporate TRX/staked-TRX treasury vehicle and is not the TRON protocol or foundation itself.
TRON is governed on-chain through its Delegated Proof-of-Stake system: TRX holders elect 27 Super Representatives who also serve as the governance body. This elected group votes on proposals that change network parameters and protocol upgrades, making it responsible for both block production and network rule changes.
Academic and community critique holds that voting power concentrates among large TRX holders such as whales and exchanges, who tend to elect favored Super Representatives — a centralization concern.
TRON's mandatory "GreatVoyage v4.8.2 (Pyrrho)" upgrade took effect August 16, 2026, adding Ethereum TVM-compatibility and infrastructure changes. At Bitcoin Asia in Hong Kong on August 27, 2026, Justin Sun announced a planned quantum-resistant technology upgrade targeted for completion by the end of 2026.
Canary Capital has filed a fourth amendment to its proposed "Staked TRX" ETF, carrying a 1.10% fee, which remains pending SEC approval as of August 2026 and is not yet trading.
CertiK maintains a publicized collaboration with TRON, providing smart-contract auditing, penetration testing, and threat-detection services for TRON-ecosystem dApps using its formal-verification methodology.
The SEC's 2023 suit against Justin Sun, the TRON Foundation, Rainberry Inc., and the BitTorrent Foundation, alleging fraud, unregistered securities sales, and wash trading, settled on March 5, 2026, with all claims against Sun personally and the foundations dismissed with prejudice and only Rainberry Inc. paying a $10 million penalty, pending final approval.