TRON 4.0 slated for July 7th release

TRON (TRX) is a platform blockchain that utilizes smart contract technology and a delegated proof-of-stake consensus model to aid in establishing what the whitepaper describes as a “truly decentralized Internet.” The Tron price is currently US$0.017 – up 6% since July 1st.

The project gained widespread media attention in 2018 when the Tron Foundation, a non-profit that leads the development of the TRON protocol, purchased the BitTorrent peer-to-peer file sharing platform. NEO, another cash-rich blockchain, was also interested in buying BitTorrent in the summer of 2018. Recent data suggests that the BitTorrent platform has 12.9 million monthly active users.

TRON, or the TRON protocol, refers to the underlying blockchain, while Tronix or TRX, is the network’s native token and serves a number of different functions within the ecosystem. TRX is used to power smart contracts and it can be frozen, or “staked,” so that users can pay no transaction fees and participate in voting for network block producers. The asset is paid to block validators for confirming transactions, and a number of Tron Decentralized applications use it as an in-app payment token.

The Tron blockchain is broken up into three layers, a core layer, an application layer, and a storage layer. The Core layer computes instructions provided in either Java or the Solidity smart contract language and executes programming logic. The application layer is utilized by developers to create applications powered by the TRX digital currency. The storage layer is designed to store blockchain data and network state data, which preserves the status of smart contracts.

TRON uses a modified version of the Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) consensus model called TRON Proof of Stake (TPoS). There are three types of nodes within the TRON network, Witnesses (Super Representatives), Full Nodes, and Solidity Nodes. A witness is responsible for block production; a full node provides APIs, and broadcasts transactions and blocks; a solidity node synchronizes irrevocable blocks and provides inquiry APIs.

Super Representatives represent the “Delegated” aspect of the TRON consensus model. There are 27 possible Super Representatives that can be picked from a pool of 127 possible candidates. The pool of 127 possible block producers is selected by the TRX token holding community. The 27 are then selected every 6 hours.

Ethereum (ETH) smart contracts are compatible within the Tron Virtual Machine, and TRON markets its solution to blockchain developers as a low-cost, energy-efficient deployment alternative to contract platforms like Ethereum.

Tron smart contracts run on a Bandwith and energy system, providing an option to stake TRX tokens to forego standard TRX based individual smart contract operation gas fees. This system allows users to conduct transactions on TRON without paying fees, as long as they are willing to freeze tokens for a period of time. For example, a user on a TRON smart contract-based gambling Dapp, provided they have enough TRX on their wallet/Dapp browser, can freeze tokens and conduct multiple fee-less transactions during a gaming session.

The the latest Tron news, an open letter to the community spells out the four core new features that will be added to the protocol as part of the TRON 4.0 update.

• The TRONZ Smart Contract protocol, that is said to be the first privacy enabled smart contract supported by a virtual machine
• A new dual-layer TPoS model that will combine Delegated Proof-of-Stake and Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT) to reduce block confirmation times from 57 seconds to three seconds
• A new TICP cross-chain protocol that will enable TRON protocol developers to initially connect with three other public blockchain platforms
• A Financial institution and enterprise blockchain solution that will allow financial institutions and business developers to deploy custom blockchain applications on the TRON protocol.

zk-SNARKs, or Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge, are an optional privacy feature based on zero-knowledge proofs originally built on the Zcash (ZEC) blockchain. zk-SNARKs allow transactors to convince verifiers about the validity of an argument, and “shields” confidential information.

In a recent blog post, the team behind the TRONZ private smart contract state that the protocol upgrade “will not make TRX anonymous in any way, nor will it have added privacy features.” It will however allow developers to add shielded transaction features to custom TRC-20 contract tokens through adding a smart contract to them. TRC‌-20 is a technical standard used for smart contracts on the TRON blockchain that allows developers to implement custom tokens.

TRONZ explains that zk-SNARKs for TRC-20 smart contract tokens will come in three forms, mint, transfer, and burn. Mint converts any TRC-20 from shielded to unshielded. Transfer shields TRC20 transactions to hide the transaction amount and addresses of the sender and recipient. Burn converts a shielded TRC20 token into a public one.