TRON H2 2024: Leading the Stablecoin Arena and Charting New Paths

The latter half of 2024 was a landmark period for the TRON network. It reached unprecedented levels across important metrics, with $TRX hitting record highs, fueled by a burst of activity within the ecosystem due to memecoin trends. Let's dive into the details.

Major Achievements

• TRON excelled in the Price-to-Revenue ratio, consistently holding a top-three spot during this time.

• Core blockchain metrics highlighted TRON's power and competitive edge.

• A strategic "vampire attack" on Solana brought considerable focus to the TRON ecosystem.

$TRX Achieves Record Heights

The TRON blockchain's native token made significant strides in early December, reaching a new peak at $0.416. As we enter 2025, the token is trading at $0.225.

At this valuation, 94% of $TRX wallets are profitable.

Historically, $TRX has maintained a positive price trajectory. The token's value tends to grow over time, with major declines only after rapid growth phases, which usually occur every four years. Notably, prices have never reverted to previous cycle lows.

This price pattern distinguishes $TRX from many other large-cap altcoins, as its holders generally remain in profit for extended periods.

TRON's Dominance in Blockchain Metrics

TRON's pricing behavior is largely driven by its blockchain metrics. A standout among these is the price-to-revenue ratio, which is vital for fundamental analysis.

At the beginning of the second half of the year, before the token's price surged, TRON led the market with a notably low price-to-revenue ratio of 26.7. In the tech sector, such a ratio is standard, but it's remarkable in the crypto world.

While the ratio has shifted following the rapid price increase, TRON still ranks among the leaders in this area.

Moreover, TRON has emerged as the most cost-effective L1 blockchain in 2024, spending just $0.85 for every $1 in fee revenue. This contrasts sharply with Aptos, which spent significantly more on incentives than it generated in fees. Bitcoin's Proof-of-Work model, for instance, resulted in $80 billion spent on miner incentives, while earning $6.6 billion in transaction fees.

In terms of total revenue, TRON ranks second only to Ethereum. Ethereum, TRON, and Solana dominate blockchain revenue generation, accounting for over 95% of the total revenue in this sector.

TRON has secured its position as the top network for addresses dealing with stablecoins. It is the preferred choice for users moving stablecoins across centralized exchanges, thanks to several factors:

• High reliability: The network has proven its reliability both over time and through the volume of assets it manages.

• Cost-efficiency: TRON offers one of the most cost-effective solutions for stablecoin transactions, making it appealing to a diverse user base.

• Wide support: The network is supported by almost all centralized exchanges.

• Unique resource mechanism: TRON's distinctive dPOS model, along with its Energy and Bandwidth resource system, provides cost savings and efficiency, attracting individual users and payment platforms alike.

• Active Network Involvement: The TRON dPOS Staking & Voting system keeps both retail and institutional investors engaged, both technologically and financially.

Regarding stablecoin transfers, TRON is third, with a total of 3 trillion USDT transferred in the second half of 2024—just behind Ethereum and Solana.

In the second half of 2024, 5 billion USDT were minted and burned on the TRON network, keeping the stablecoin volume relatively stable despite minor variations.

Looking at overall metrics, TRON ranks in the top three for active addresses in the latter half of 2024.

Additionally, TRON is among the top three blockchains in transaction volume during this period.

In terms of Total Value Locked (TVL), TRON did lose some ground to BSC and the expanding Bitcoin ecosystem in the second half of 2024, driven by restaking protocols, yet it remains within the top five.

Thus, TRON stands as a leader among blockchains across numerous vital metrics, thanks to its robust fit in the stablecoin sector.

However, there was one popular market area where TRON hadn't seen much success in the previous half-year: the memecoin sector. In the second half of 2024, Justin Sun and his team aimed to close this gap, surprising the market positively.

TRON's Memecoin Boom

By mid-2024, pump.fun on the Solana blockchain—allowing users to create their own tokens quickly and almost free—was the cycle's standout project, generating substantial revenue and attracting attention. On August 13, TRON launched a similar platform named SunPump. This platform, a nod to its origins, was developed on the AMM protocol SunSwap, with its smart contracts playing a crucial role. Initially met with skepticism, SunPump quickly established itself as a formidable rival to pump.fun, particularly in its first month.

In fact, meme tokens launched early on SunPump outperformed those on pump.fun.

Within a month, the rate of token launches and their average market performance stabilized, indicating a transition to a more sustainable growth phase.

This trend is typical in the crypto world, where the "first-mover" advantage initially benefits established platforms. However, this also gives new platforms like TRON's SunPump the chance to innovate and set themselves apart from older, more familiar platforms as they evolve.

Combating Illicit Activity

In August 2024, TRON, Tether, and TRM launched The T3 Financial Crime Unit (T3 FCU) to combat illicit activity in the blockchain industry. Within six months, they froze over $100 million in criminal assets worldwide, marking a major step in fighting cryptocurrency-related financial crime. The TRON network, in particular, saw the most significant reduction in illicit activity, with the volume decreasing by $6 billion and the proportion almost halving. The unit has worked closely with global law enforcement to dismantle criminal networks involved in money laundering, fraud, extortion, terrorism financing, and other serious financial crimes.

New Year, New Opportunities for TRON

One promising avenue TRON is just beginning to explore is the integration of AI technologies. Given Justin Sun and his team's track record of innovation, 2025 is poised to be a transformative year for TRON in this space. Building on their success with fair launch platforms for meme tokens, we anticipate they will introduce groundbreaking applications or adapt existing solutions creatively to position TRON as a leader in the AI-crypto synergy.

We are already observing early signs from TRON DAO itself. On January 7, the official TRON DAO Twitter (X) account ran a poll asking users which AI technology use cases they find most intriguing in the crypto industry.

A few days later, they shared a post from @JustinMoonAI—a community project featuring an English-speaking AI agent who runs a 24/7 livestream, interacting with website visitors. The agent's name and appearance are clear references to the TRON blockchain's founder.

On January 10, the TRON blockchain integrated with the EternalAI protocol, a multi-chain platform for launching tokenized AI agents.

Conclusion

The TRON network is among the earliest blockchain technologies developed by humans. Over its six-plus years, it has proven to be a reliable decentralized infrastructure and has become the preferred solution for stablecoin transfers—one of the most critical use cases in the crypto industry. The charismatic leadership of Justin Sun has given the project significant recognition and visibility, and his independence in the market allows for certain freedoms in project development. For instance, Justin Sun was able to create SunPump, achieving a brief but notable success. We believe that the ecosystem leader's initiative and persistence will continue to drive its success, and the market appears to agree, consistently elevating the blockchain's valuation through its native coin.

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.