Tron is a third-generation blockchain platform that allows you to develop, deploy and store smart contracts and decentralized applications. It also facilitates the process of publishing content (especially multimedia) and data. That set of features makes this blockchain particularly attractive as an entertainment platform. It also makes the network very versatile and ensures that plenty of applications and use cases are available for the blockchain and its native token, Tronix (TRX).
The newest blockchain projects are very much about new use cases and applications for the blockchain technology, and they’re not exclusively centered on supporting a cryptocurrency (like it happens for Bitcoin, Litecoin, or many other blockchain networks).
That being said, cryptocurrencies are still investment assets as well, and it behooves any potential investor, such as you and me, to look into any specific digital coin in that way to figure out if it’s the right choice for investment or not. In this article, we’ll try to answer that question for Tron’s TRX.
Tron price predictions for the current year
Investingpr.com expects TRX to reach USD 1.00 before a lustrum. Some would say that’s quite a conservative forecast, but it would make Tron a good investment option as it represents a 3800% increase in price over its current level.
The driving force behind Tron’s rise in value will be the platform’s usefulness, user base, and future extended usage. More developers are expected to adopt the platform (it’s grown incredibly fast already) to deploy their projects, and all those new contracts and applications will attract new users, increase trade volume for TRX thus supporting the token’s appreciations.
Tron is also engaged in making sure that developers have an easier time publishing content. We’re talking about one of the very few blockchain networks which facilitate content publishing without any restrictions. That’s how versatility is promoted in the application menu available in the platform.
More applications mean more usability. Which, in turn, means more users, more circulation for the token. And all those factors boil down into higher market prices. So the platform holds immense technological potential which will support an equally vast potential for the currency.
So if you’re interested in becoming a Tron investor, this could be the right time to get in the game as the price is currently meager at $0.026159 and rising in value overall. Mind you; the rising trend is for days, not for hours, so don’t go in if you’re looking to use TRX as means to do day-trading. At least not in the current circumstances. But Tron’s potential for future growth is indeed very high, so it’s worth examining the project and its market position.
The digital asset is performing ok in the crypto markets so far. The blockchain’s mission is to decentralize the web. No central servers, no central authorities. It would be something like the web running on the BitTorrent network (which is already owned by Tron, by the way). The result would be a free planetary international content platform (probably heavily focused on entertainment) that will allow people to send, upload, download, retain, share or store all kinds of content.
Tron was founded by Justin Sun, who serves as the Tron Foundation’s CEO. Most of the Tron’s activity is centered in Mainland China, but the Foundation is a not for profit organization established in Singapore, which is a country/city in which many other members of the blockchain industry have set up shop to take care of their Asian operations.
Most of Tron trading takes place in Binance. About 75%. This is no surprise as Binance is the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, and it’s one of Tron’s most important strategic partners. They’ve launched several projects together (like the BitTorrent Token initial offering, which will be the digital asset fueling the new BitTorrent network that will run on Tron’s blockchain).
Tron’s TRX is currently ranked at the eleventh spot in the world by market capitalization which is quite a feat for a project that’s barely 1.5 years old.
So the project has a lot of potential both as a technology and as a crypto coin which is why many analysts are forecasting exponential growth for the token during this year. The forecasts come in all shapes and sizes, and we’ll share some of them with you.
Some analysts are talking about USD 3,75 in the upcoming 90 days. Some are even predicting a peak value of USD 12,00 sometime during 2019. Long-term analysis done in the same spirit by other experts points out to USD 52,19. This would be fantastic news indeed, but we find all of the predictions in this paragraph to be a little bit too optimistic. Not because Tron lacks potential, but because each of those forecasts implies an explosion in value that’s probably never been seen in the crypto verse in such a short time.
Tron’s strategic partnerships strategy
Meaningful strategic partnerships go a long way in any industry, and Tron is working very hard to secure many exciting partnerships that enhance its project’s potential. And it already has many of those under its belt.
Further project development
The project’s leader, Justin Sun, is on the record announcing that Tron already has more distinctive addresses than EOS, and more new addresses in first ninety-five days after it launched its main net than Ethereum during the same period. Mr. Sun also announced Odyssey 3.1, which will be an update for the blockchain. According to the promised specifications, it is going to be faster than ETH (200x) and cheaper than EOS (100x). Sounds too good to be true? Maybe. But Tron has us used to delivering in every promise, always on time, and ever as expected.
Tron’s technology includes a virtual machine (TVM – Tron Virtual Machine) which is a plus. This enables developers to write their code in any programming language they fancy, then let the virtual machine deal with the details in making it work on Tron’s blockchain. This is a far cry from Ethereum’s developmental process that requires developers to learn how to write code using Ethereum’s very own native programming language. Talk about openness and versatility.
So the network has developed significantly over the last few months, and we’ve just scratched the surface. For instance, we haven’t gone into detail about Project Atlas (BitTorrent’s integration), or about the Tether re-deployment of the USDT stable coin as a Tron-based cryptocurrency that will now run on Tron’s blockchain just to mention a couple of milestones that have been commented extensively in the crypto verse.
The project’s adept management, superior technology, and bullish community increase Tron’s potential even further. That makes for rock-solid fundamentals that can only mean that the coin’s price will reflect the network’s success very shortly.
Mr. Sun is also in excellent terms with many of the world’s leading exchanges (Binance, BitForex, ShiftMarkets, and OTCBTC, for instance). The BitForex partnership will be particularly relevant when a bullish run comes to Tron, and we’ve already referred to joint work done with Binance.
So TRX is slowly but steadily acquiring authority as a cryptocurrency, and it’s been a profitable option. Its low price makes it very accessible for retail investors, and while its use cases remain mainly limited to the decentralized applications in the network, the Foundation is working in expanding its payments system so you will soon be able to use it to pay for your groceries at brick-and-mortar stores near you.
2.78 USD by coming September
That’s what many reputed crypto analysts we know think. Analysts are assuming that September will see Tron’s price at USD 2.78 because of the strong fundamentals supporting the coin. Besides, Tron’s definitely been trending upwards during the year.
There are further predictions, but before we delve into highly speculative forecasts (and make no mistake, that’s what they are), we will start by talking about the big elephant in the room. The cryptocurrency market remains very volatile, so price predictions are an incredibly difficult task, even if you’re an expert in technical analysis or in any other traditional speculative market (stocks, forex, commodities or whatever).
We will give you a series of predictions by several organizations and personalities in the crypto verse for the sake of completeness, but you should have a grain of salt ready for every prognostication.
New investors will arrive from the payment platforms (think PayPal), and that will make the token’s value go up to USD 1,5.
Potential for mergers: Mr. Sun is Jack Ma’s close friend and protegé. He studied under him at Ma’s Hupan university. And a little help from Alibaba could go a long way in establishing Tron as one of the crypto world most relevant players. This is not written in stone. Neither Tron nor Alibaba has ever announced plans to collaborate in any way at all, but the close relationship between the project’s founders keeps the doors open for anything to happen.
So what will make Tron grow?
Partnerships. Some massive names in the entertainment industry are already Tron’s partners. Game.com, Bitmain, UPLive, oBike have all signed up already. They are enhancing the network’s popularity and user base. That, in turn, will bring attention to new potential partners. It’s a virtuous circle. In the past, partnership declarations have influenced the TRX price.
Good PR and Marketing. Mr. Sun is very adept in implementing marketing, and public relations strategies as it’s shown by how he uses his Tweeter account. He’s also been listed in “30 under 30” of Forbes, and he already boasts a proven successful track record as a tech tycoon being Peiwo’s founder which is the leading messaging service in Mainland China where it’s giving a run for its money to Snapchat and other Western competitors. His close ties with Alibaba’s Jack Ma are not precisely hurting his influence and reputation either.
Speculation: the TRX price went up by 3.650% from December 9th to January 9th, 2018. That is more significant because of timing. It happened as the crypto winter was arriving (December 18th, 2017) so this was a token that managed to grow in value as the whole of the market was receding. The rise came about because of rapid growth, mainly.
Potential: Tron vision’s and mission’s ambition is just tremendous. It’s to create a web in which the usual central authorities (Apple, Google, Youtube, Facebook, Microsoft) become irrelevant and powerless. Sounds like too much? Well, it is, to be sure. But keep in mind that we’ve seen this kind of revolutions several times over in the digital environment.
Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, YouTube, Amazon, eBay, all seemed quite inoffensive in the beginning and turned out to disrupt the technology world, the internet, even the world itself in meaningful ways. Tron could follow in those steps. Is that the most likely thing in the world? Maybe not. But it’s possible for sure.
What could hamper Tron’s growth?
Focus on a single individual. Yes, Mr. Sun is a competent administrator, and he’s become something of a charismatic leader. But some critics believe that Tron’s actions rely a little too much on the founder’s prestige.
If Mr. Sun was to be involved in some kind of scandal and his reputation was questioned, the effect on the project could be lethal. This was close to happening not too long ago as the Tron community was divided about the delivery of a Tesla car as the prize for a competition.
By contrast, Satoshi Nakamoto (Bitcoin’s founder) holds a heroic status, but he’s remained silent for the best part of a decade. Another example? Linux is an example of a disruptive project, led by a founder (Linus Torvalds) who is still in charge of the kernel development process but keeps a rather low profile. There’s nothing wrong with Mr. Sun enjoying a little attention and being on the limelight. But he gets lots of attention and is on the spotlight all the time.
Perception of marketing. As stated before, Tron’s marketing is very effective, but some people find it irritating or controversial, to say the least. Even bullish community members are not always on board with the Foundation’s marketing schemes. Overhype tends to get people’s attention and create manias, which are good while they last. But then comes a correction, which is like a hangover.
Plagiarism: This is old news, but it happened. On January 2018 some allegations surfaced about Tron’s white paper being plagiarized from IPFS and FileCoin. Mr. Sun did some damage control through his Tweeter account by arguing that the lack of references (among other issues related to the white paper) resulted from translation errors.
It’s been a while, and while there was some damage to the public’s perception, it’s been mostly irrelevant so far. But it’s the kind of thing that could come back to haunt the project in the future.
Lack of adoption: adoption will be the key for every single cryptocurrency and blockchain network on the planet. The game is all about bringing the asset and the technology into the mainstream and have otherwise crypto phobic users involved. Tron’s objectives mean that its competition is not going to be Bitcoin or any other blockchain project. Not even Ethereum nor EOS. It’s going to be about facing and beating Google Play, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube at their own game. It’s a tall order.
The competition
Tron’s aims may be huge, but they’re not unique, as other platforms (some of which are also blockchain-based) are trying to do the very same thing. Tron’s network is superior in the crypto verse, but how it compares to a handful of crucial other projects will be very important for the future. Here are Tron’s competitors:
The value of Tron (TRX) in the months and years to come will, in part, be driven by how Sun-led blockchain compares to other rivals in the entertainment content market online. The leading entrants worth watching closely include:
The usual suspects: there is no shortage of content platforms on the web (and we mean the desktop and the mobile web). Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, iTunes, Google Play, YouTube.
It’s not even a remotely extensive list, just the most prominent names that control the best part of the industry’s traffic (thus deciding how content creators can monetize their work). Each and every one of those platforms is quite powerful, and it’s not going to welcome any competition readily. Tron will be burdened with offering itself as a viable option.
LBRY: it’s a community-run marketplace and digital media library built around the central aim to fight censorship and authority centralization. Users can upload their own content, set their very own fees and decide how their work is propagated through the network.
Po.et: also based on blockchain technology. It enables creators and publishers to manage their digital media while awarding them with indisputable ownership proof so that there’s no confusion about attribution.
SingularDTV: something of a blockchain-based YouTube clone platform.
Tron and the future
The next few months will be determinant for Tron’s future just as the care you give to a plant is crucial for the adult’s plant condition.
Mr. Sun’s performance will be critical as well. He’s something of crypto celebrity who inspires only black and white opinions. Either he’s a genius; as influential and important as the great Elon Musk is for Tesla or a text plagiarist with a taste for deceitful marketing. Love him or hate him, Mr. Sun has been Tron’s driving force since its foundation and evolution.
But no factor is going to be more relevant for the project’s success than mass adoption. Adoption for the TRX token, for sure, but also for BTT within the re-branded BitTorrent network and of USDT-Tron. Tronix (TRX) may be the project’s original digital asset, but as the project has developed and expanded into new directions, the performance of the other two coins will be critical as well. The three will influence each other because TRX is the base currency for the other two, and the three will be the currency in the whole Tron network, or at least in some specific sectors, especially BTT.
But adoption also goes to technology. Tron will have to attract bloggers and YouTubers to do their thing using Tron’s platform instead of the usual centralized websites. And as they come and try it out, the network must remain fast, reliable and cheap to use.
So you put all that information together and trying to see Tron’s future clearly turns out to be very complicated. While there’s no doubt about the solidity in the project’s fundamentals, it’s also true that the project aspirations are formidable which means the challenges that must be overcome are every bit as significant. And chances are that they will be hit and miss, partial advancement is welcome as part of the process, but not as a final result.
And as all that is in the process of becoming a reality, the Tron Foundation and its leader must find a way to stay away from any kind of controversy even if that means to sacrifice a fraction of the attention they both get from the crypto verse.
Conclusion
There’s a lot of promise in Tron as a platform and as a cryptocurrency too. But the road ahead is going to be bumpy. So far, everything has been peachy. Even the white paper scandal didn’t make much of a dent in the boss’ and the project’s reputation. The new Main Net worked great from the beginning, and it’s gained new users, deployed new apps and contracts at higher speeds than any other project.
Tron has made no mistakes, and it’s going forward with a steady pace, growing at a time in which most other blockchains are shrinking, and delivering on every promise in a timely way while meeting expectations. If they keep on going like that, things look bright.
BitTorrent will be merged into Tron’s network soon thus turning it into the world’s largest decentralized P2P network. We are talking about hundreds of millions of users scattered everywhere on the planet. Most of them don’t care all that much about crypto, so chances are they will stay away. But even if just a few realize the changes in the network and become interested in Tron, their sheer force in numbers could propel Tron beyond Mr. Sun’s wildest dreams.
So Tron’s path so far has been excellent. Achievements have been great as well, but challenges are on the same scale.
So, should you become a TRX holder? We haven’t got the slightest idea because it’s up to you. You will need to carry out your own research (starting with this article, maybe) and keep up with Tron’s news to make an informed choice.
Image courtesy of Pixabay.
Disclaimer: The presented information is subjected to market condition and may include the very own opinion of the author. Please do your ‘very own’ market research before making any investment in cryptocurrencies. Neither the writer nor the publication (TronWeekly.com) holds any responsibility for your financial loss.