Bitcoin’s slow slip in price seems to be dragging many of the top coins along with it. Ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XRP) and Stellar (XEM) are all showing bearish trends – but there is one considerable outlier. Tron’s TRX token continues to outperform the market as a whole. In part, this is due to founder Justin Sun’s consistent marketing blitz. Despite many detractors within the cryptocurrency community, Sun’s charisma cannot be discounted – nor can the Tron Foundation’s business savvy. Their relatively recent acquisition of BitTorrent (BTT) may drive the TRX token to new highs.
Tron announced that they would be releasing a native BitTorrent Token to monetize the file-sharing service. The original BitTorrent software will remain free. However, BTT will be used to pay for a higher-tier of faster download speed. While it remains to be seen how successful the premium tier will be, there is a level of palpable excitement among investors. The pseudo-ICO for BTT sold out on Binance in less than 15 minutes.
The Airdrop Sequence and Mechanism
Rather than release the entire supply of BTT through a pre-sale, the Tron foundation intends to sporadically release the supply as an airdrop to holders of the original TRX token. This process will take place each month on the 11th, through 2024. As such, it’s likely designed to incentivize the long term holding of TRX tokens – rewarding users who regularly hold the coin.
Further, the slow drip of BTT prevents the usual, immediate drop that accompanies a pre-sold token’s adding to an exchange. Should the BitTorrent premium feature gain traction, the demand for BTT would come with multiple benefits for Tron. First, it would ensure a steady gain in value due to said increased demand. However, more importantly, it would also be one of the first permanent crypto-only products. If the speed is considerably higher than the original BitTorrent rate, we may see a huge swath of new users engaged in the cryptocurrency market.
Tron’s Recent Market Performance
Tron’s bucking of the bear market is remarkable – but their sudden charge into the top ten by market cap is astonishing. Displacing Stellar, they’ve now settled into the number eight spot, something that would have been unimaginable a year ago. As other coins are still slipping in price, it seems likely that this will become the new normal, with Tron potentially overcoming both Litecoin (LTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) in the near future.
However, it is equally possible that the airdrop schedule as outlined will create an oscillating effect. As the airdrop is designed to consistently occur at the same time each month, users may opt to only hold Tron during those specific dates. If this happens, we will see TRX bounce between a low and a high price around the 11th of each month. This opens an avenue for day trading profits, but may prevent a steady growth of the token.
Article By: Adam Stone
