TRON launched its mainnet in 2018, founded by Justin Sun, positioned as a high-throughput, low-fee smart-contract platform. It runs on a delegated-proof-of-stake model with a small, elected set of 'super representative' validators, and — alongside Ethereum — has become one of the two networks most Tether (USDT) is actually issued and transferred on, largely because of its comparatively low transaction fees.
Category
layer-1
Consensus mechanism
Delegated Proof of Stake
Launched
2018
Delegated Proof of Stake
Rather than an open validator set of arbitrary size, TRX holders vote to elect a limited number of 'super representative' block producers, who take turns producing blocks and share block rewards and fees with the community members who voted for them. This design trades some decentralisation for higher throughput and lower fees compared with fully permissionless mining or larger validator sets, a trade-off TRON's design has been explicit about since launch.
USDT settlement and ecosystem
TRON's low fees have made it the dominant network for USDT transfers by volume in several analyses, particularly for remittance and exchange-to-exchange settlement use cases, alongside its own DeFi and content/entertainment-focused dApp ecosystem (TRON's founder previously acquired BitTorrent, integrating some of its technology). Justin Sun has been a high-profile and at times controversial figure in the industry, including past regulatory actions from US authorities against entities he founded — worth being aware of as background context, separate from an assessment of the TRON network's technical merits.
Tokenomics
| circulating-supply | — |
|---|---|
| max-supply | — |
| issuance-model | No fixed cap; new TRX issued as block rewards to elected super-representative validators |
Last verified: 8 July 2026. before you rely on any figure — live circulating supply and market cap are never published here; check a live tracker.
Risks & criticisms
- TRON's delegated-proof-of-stake model concentrates block production among a small elected validator set, a structural trade-off compared with more decentralised consensus designs.
- TRON's founder has been the subject of past regulatory actions in some jurisdictions; check current standing and disclosures from primary regulatory sources rather than relying on secondary summaries.
- As with any high-throughput network, most real-world usage (like USDT settlement) is asset-specific — TRX's own price behaviour is a separate consideration from the network's transactional usage.
Where to buy
Frequently asked questions
Who founded TRON?
Justin Sun founded TRON, which launched its mainnet in 2018.
Why is TRON associated with USDT?
Its low transaction fees have made it, alongside Ethereum, one of the two networks most Tether (USDT) is issued and transferred on, particularly for exchange and remittance settlement.
Does TRON have a maximum TRX supply?
No fixed hard cap; new TRX is issued as block rewards to the elected super-representative validators under its delegated-proof-of-stake model.