Justin Sun believes users of the internet should own it together, rather than it being used by the few who own its data. That’s one of the primary reasons he founded Tron — to decentralize the internet via blockchain technology and decentralized apps.
Think about it.
You wake up and check the weather, either on your phone or by asking your smart device. During breakfast, you scroll through the morning articles on some of your favorite news publications’ apps. At work, you send countless emails, research a new project, and maybe take a break by checking your social media pages. At home, you unwind by streaming your favorite television show.
Justin Sun, crypto diplomat and entrepreneur, continues to spearhead evolution in the realm of blockchain and the decentralized internet.
Undoubtedly, the internet is seamlessly interwoven throughout our lives. More than just a resource for daily tasks and entertainment, the internet is a powerful tool that has become a basic necessity for economic and human development.
The proliferation of uses for the internet has brought with it questions about who should be in control of it, and a growing number of people believe that it should be out of the hands of the government regulators and massive technology companies that currently hold much of the power. In recent years, this conversation has only gotten louder, as questions about who is tracking and selling our private data have emerged as well.
Crypto diplomat Justin Sun, along with millions of others, wants a decentralized web. Sun is the founder of Tron DAO, a decentralized blockchain ecosystem seeking to create an efficient, scalable, and cost-effective solution through an open-source blockchain-based operating system. In just five years, Tron has become one of the most active open blockchain and smart contract platforms in the world, with over 122 million active user accounts and more than 4.2 billion transactions logged.
During the past development of Tron, Sun worked hard to propel forward the concept of a blockchain-based, decentralized internet. He famously made a record-breaking $4.6 million bid in a charity auction to dine with Warren Buffett, and reportedly used the subsequent meal to educate the renowned investor on the value of cryptocurrency and the blockchain, gifting him one bitcoin and several Tron TRX tokens that corresponded with his 89th birthday.
In December 2021, Sun stepped down as CEO of the Tron Foundation (which has also dissolved since his departure) in order to focus on his new role as the ambassador for Grenada to the World Trade Organization. Expressing his belief that the Caribbean is uniquely positioned to be particularly receptive to decentralized concepts, his acceptance of the position is the latest in a long line of efforts on his part to raise the worldwide profile of cryptocurrency and blockchain. Justin Sun has said that blockchain is an essential aspect of the decentralized internet (known as Web3 or Web 3.0) and believes it is a “revolutionary technology that will democratize the world of finance, art, and many others.”
Defining Blockchain Technology
While blockchain has certainly become a buzzword in recent years, for many, the concept itself is still shrouded in mystery. It is strongly associated with its applications in cryptocurrency, but in its simplest definition, blockchain technology is a system for recording information.
A blockchain is often compared to a ledger, but unlike those used in the past — both analog and digital — blockchain technology stores its information in a way that makes it almost 100% impregnable. Traditionally, a database will hold its data in tables, but blockchain gets its name from its unique way of structuring data. Information is collected together in groups known as “blocks,” and once the storage capacity for each block has been reached, it is linked to the block previously filled before it, creating a “chain” of data. The analogy to a chain is a fitting one, because just as chain links in the physical world are extremely strong and resilient, so too are blockchains in their ability to prevent changes, hacks, or cheating to the system.
History of Blockchain Technology
As with most technologies that have exploded onto the scene, iterations of blockchain technology have in fact been in the works for a number of decades. One of the first instances includes the Merkle tree, an approach to public key distribution and digital signatures that was put forward by computer scientist Ralph Merkle’s thesis in 1979.
The rest of the century was filled with other small, yet significant, technological advancements that helped set the stage for blockchain technology, including the invention of digital cash and timestamping digital documents. As proof of how one business’s failure can still make way for the success of many others, it was the now-defunct Napster that originally popularized the peer-to-peer network, a system that sees one network benefit from the computing power and storage capacity of thousands of computers.
It was in 2008 that blockchain got its true start when Satoshi Nakamoto — thought to be a pseudonym for either a single person or a group of individuals — first published a white paper on the ideas behind bitcoin and blockchain technology. A year later, Nakamoto mined the first bitcoin block, and throughout 2009, the concept was further refined with an exchange being established, as well as a forum for discussions. At the time, a bitcoin was worth less than one penny, but today, each bitcoin is worth over $16,000.
According to Sun, his first encounter with bitcoin was in early 2010, and soon after, he began “heavily investing” in crypto. Rather than a way to make money, Justin Sun said he saw the investments as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to bring positive change to the world because of its ability to create and even automate trust.
In 2014, ethereum was launched, carving a path for blockchain to be utilized for purposes other than cryptocurrency by introducing smart contracts and giving developers a platform for creating other decentralized applications. From that point on, financial institutions and other industries began to recognize the value of the technology and tentatively explored its potential.
NFTs and Other Blockchain Applications
Although finance was one of the first sectors to see blockchain technology applied to it through cryptocurrency, its broader applications have seen it applied to practically every other industry today. NFTs are one of the most recent applications to make headlines, and although much of the media attention has focused on the perceived absurdity of purchases (such as Jack Dorsey’s first tweet for $2.9 million), Justin Sun has said that he believes NFTs are the most important component of the decentralized internet. He has collected millions of dollars worth of NFTs over the past few years, and said that they have the ability to bring “a new mode of transaction and transparency to the art world.”
The decentralized internet is a highly complex concept, but one that people like Justin Sun view as necessary to bring to the forefront of the conversation for a future that is innovative and egalitarian. Sun is quoted as saying, “I believe in the metaverse, which is an inclusive and empowering version of not only the next internet but also the future of how people will live their day-to-day lives. I hope I can be part of building a truly decentralized metaverse and make it accessible and available to everyone.”
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