$3 Billion Blockchain Tron Kicks Off Token Migration

The 10th most valuable cryptocurrency in the world is set to commence its token migration process on Thursday.

Created by former Ripple representative Justin Sun, Tron aims to build infrastructure for a "truly decentralized internet" that can host decentralized applications (dapps). The project, which started on the ethereum blockchain and launched its own blockchain in late May, has positioned itself as a competitor to its former host.

As such, the token migration is an intermediary step in what Tron has called its progression towards "independence," or in other words, the completion of its departure from ethereum and the activation of its mainnet technology.

Though the token migration is now a key part of the realization of Tron's technology, the original iteration of the project's roadmap did not include a token swap, much less the launch of an original Tron mainnet.

Sun initially intended for the project to remain on ethereum, however, according to a May Medium post, "network issues" triggered the decision to "detach" from the protocol.

He wrote further:

"This is the only way to propel the industry into a stage of large-scale, rapid growth...Independence from ethereum is our answer to the calling of the blockchain era."

The implementation of the network is likely to be contingent upon the success of the events of the upcoming week, which Tron told CoinDesk users can watch via its blog and social channels.

Whether the protocol will measure up to Sun's claims after the activation, however, remains to be seen.

Implications for token holders

For token holders, the swap merely means that the placeholder ERC-20 TRX tokens Tron distributed during its development phase will be switched out for native "TRON-20" TRX tokens.

Likewise, the swap means the balance of tokens in users' ethereum wallets will subsequently be transmitted to their Tron wallets.

Unlike other projects, such as EOS, which provide users with the option to carry out the swap manually, Tron's migration process will be facilitated wholly by exchanges. The process commences on Thursday, and users will have until June 24 to deposit their ERC-20 TRX tokens to one of 30 participating exchanges.

Users who already hold their tokens on a participating exchange do not need to take any action.

From June 22 to June 25, users will be unable to withdraw their TRX from exchanges. On June 24, the exchanges will take "snapshots" of users token balances to ensure the sums transfer correctly, and on June 25, both TRX deposits and withdrawals on exchanges will be frozen. Users will still be able to trade TRX during this period.

According to Tron, the completion of the token migration on June 25 will mark the point at which the Tron mainnet will become "fully independent" from the ethereum blockchain.

Following "Independence Day," users will be able to resume deposits and withdrawals on June 26 in time for Tron's "super representative election."

Similar to EOS' block producer election, this process requires users to stake or "freeze" their TRON20 TRX tokens to vote for block validators to operate in Tron's delegated proof-of-stake (DPoS) consensus system.

Upon the completion of the election, the Tron blockchain will be fully activated.

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