Tronix (TRX) is the native currency of the Tron blockchain platform. The platform was designed to form the foundation of a decentralized entertainment ecosystem. This will allow content creators to connect directly with consumers, cutting out middlemen and removing the barriers to independent producers seeking distribution channels. It claims users will benefit from the data they create, unlike traditional social platforms that harvest your data and monetize it.

Founded by a Singapore-based non-profit, the Tron Foundation not only aims to capitalize on the global entertainment industry, but, according to its whitepaper, sees its protocol as an enabler for live social broadcasting, gambling applications, gaming, and social or dating interactions.

Tronix can be used by content consumers to pay for the content they want to access on the Tron network. These coins then go to the content producers’ accounts, where they can be exchanged to other cryptocurrencies, or used to pay for blockchain services. At launch, TRX was an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum mainnet; in June 2018, when the Tron mainnet launched, the ERC-20 tokens were migrated to the native TRX coin (TRON20) at a 1:1 ratio. This event is referred to as the Tron Independence Day.

An apparent benefit of the TRX is its speed. The website states that TRX consistently handles 2,000 transactions per second (TPS), 24/7 compared to 25 TPS for Ether and 3-6 TPS for Bitcoin. Another benefit is that Tron removes the complication of building a new blockchain protocol from scratch by providing one on which developers can create and deploy their own decentralized applications (dApps).

Tron’s mainnet aims to ‘heal the internet’ through free and uncontrolled data, a content ecosystem where users can obtain digital assets from content spreading, a personal ICO feature with the ability to distribute digital assets, the infrastructure to allow distributed digital assets exchanges (such as games), and market forecasting.

In 2019, Tron had dual headquarters in Beijing and San Francisco, and was planning to establish more overseas offices in preparation for rapid expansion. Its founder, Justin Sun, worked for two years as the chief representative and advisor to Ripple in greater China, helping it with its first successful round of funding. He also the founded PEIWO, a mobile social networking and voice streaming app.

As of January 2019, around 98% of the 100 billion circulating supply of ERC-20 TRX had been burnt (destroyed) by the Tron foundation and its community. The burn only applied to the ERC-20 tokens, which are said to be ‘old and useless’ and not the newer Tron coins that are native to the Tron mainnet.