Tron aims to cut out the Google Play and iTunes Stores of this world and turn media creators into their own distributors. If the team pulls it off, it could lead to a redistribution of power similar to that of the world wide web. It’s a grand plan — and grand plans are 10 a penny in crypto-land, experts tell Inverse.
The Tron community has rallied to support Sun. In a widely-circulated Medium post titled “Killing FUD Rumors” — short for fear, uncertainty, and doubt — a user called “TwentySumCrypto” noted that the project so far has been oriented toward a Chinese audience, and while the plagiarism is a “point of concern,” it is clear that English-language materials have been a lower priority at this early stage.
“The white paper controversy is a bit of a ‘he said, she said,’” Gerstz says. “We have the problem of language barriers, Tron’s allegations that the non-Chinese translations were prepared by volunteers, and the fact that even established businesses have employees who occasionally try to cut corners by plagiarizing bits and pieces of content.”
The white paper issue notwithstanding, Tron has gained support through its numerous partnerships. Peiwo, another company that Sun founded, has pledged to use the Tron network to power its video messaging services for its 10 million users. Baofeng, which Sun described as a “Chinese Netflix,” has also partnered with Tron, though the specific partnership will focus not on the streaming service but rather a separate subsidiary’s hardware infrastructure services. Bike sharing operator oBike is set to introduce an oCoins cryptocurrency in the first quarter of this year for paying for rides around Singapore, a project it plans to transition onto Tron.
“In oBike’s case, we hope that this will encourage positive riding behaviours and incentivise ridership among oBike users as they will be able to generate oCoins whenever they ride,” Shi Yi, chief advisor of the Odyssey Foundation that operates oCoins, tells Inverse. “In addition to the potential and exponential growth in value, oCoins can be used to purchase online content, any applications that are on Tron’s platform, and pay for oBike rides.”
While oCoin currently runs on Ethereum, the company tells Inverse it plans to switch to the Tron mainnet in the future, a switchover that it says will take place within this year. This timeframe is in line with Sun’s comments, who said at the start of the year that he is “fighting” to get the main net online in the first quarter of 2018. Now-removed roadmaps on Tron’s English language site suggested a December timeframe for the first major milestone.
“Exodus” is an important part of Tron delivering on its promises.