Tron (TRX) has long been the butt of jokes and insults from much of the cryptocurrency industry, dating back to 2019 (and even earlier) and continuing to this day.
However, in the last year or so, it has become an increasingly difficult rival to Ethereum (ETH) to ignore, exemplified by the fact that the supply of stablecoin tether (USDT) on its blockchain has outperformed Ethereum’s own supply numerous times.
At the time of writing, both blockchains have roughly the same amount of USDT ($32 billion) in their respective networks, while Tron recently celebrated reaching 100 million active accounts. Such figures paint a picture of an ever-growing network, particularly one that could challenge Ethereum’s dominance of the crypto sector at some point in the future.
However, opinion is actually mixed on the question of whether Tron is a serious rival to Ethereum, with Ethereum supporters arguing that few significant projects are being built on the smaller blockchain. Still, others argue that Tron’s growing USDT supply and lower fees could help it expand further, a process aided by Ethereum’s delays in moving to proof-of-stake.
How Tron has eaten Ethereum’s cake Aside from its large supply of USDT, there is one area where Tron clearly outperforms Ethereum: day trading. According to figures from Etherscan and Tronscan, Ethereum has generally been handling between 1 million and 1.3 million transactions per day for about a year and a half, while Tron has been processing more than 3 million during the same period.
In fact, in recent months, Tron’s daily transaction count has increased from 4 million to around 6 million since April. This is a fact recognized by the Ethereum community and ConsenSys DeFi economist David Shuttleworth says there is a simple reason for this.
This is a view shared by most other commentators within cryptocurrencies, with Boolean Fund’s Mark Jeffrey stating that the growth in Tron usage is driven by traders who are dealing with a large number of stablecoins and want to lose. as little as possible in your numerous transactions.
USDT is MUCH cheaper to move on Tron than Ethereum – gas fees are MUCH less. If you are moving USDT between exchanges (a common use case), Tron is the cheapest way,” he said.
Taking a closer look at Tron’s fee structure, David Shuttleworth explains that it can vary depending on the amount of TRX a user has staked, though “typically” it’s a fraction of a penny. However, the same does not apply to Ethereum.
Ethereum gas fees, on the other hand, are significantly more expensive, with fees in excess of $10 during times of heavy congestion […] Ultimately, this suggests users are migrating to Tron as a substitute for Ethereum to complete transactions, such as USDT transfers,” he said.
