The founder of the TRON cryptocurrency, Justin Sun, has acquired the peer-to-peer file sharing platform BitTorrent for an unknown amount of money.
TRON aims to build a decentralized entertainment ecosystem where content creators can freely publish, store, and sell their content while directly interacting with consumers via issuing and trading digital assets. The peer-to-peer file sharing protocol of BitTorrent would naturally fit into TRON’s goals since BitTorrent’s protocol can make the storage and distribution of entertainment content far more efficient.
The timing of the BitTorrent acquisition is quite interesting since the launch of TRON’s native blockchain and platform is on 24 June 2018, less than two weeks from now. The deal has been in the works since September 2017, however, and Justin Sun signed a letter of intent to purchase BitTorrent in January 2018. There was a no-shop clause on the letter of intent, which means BitTorrent was not allowed to look for higher bidders, but BitTorrent violated this clause and a legal battle ensued. The lawsuit was recently dropped to make way for the acquisition.
TRON (TRX) is the 10th most valuable cryptocurrency with a market cap of USD 2.9 billion and daily volume in excess of USD 100 million. The TRON Foundation controls USD 1.65 billion worth of TRX. It is unknown whether Justin Sun used TRX from the foundation’s funds for the BitTorrent acquisition. An official announcement is expected soon which should clarify this.
BitTorrent was one of the most popular torrenting sites on the internet in the past, with tens of millions of active users that consumed over 3% of global bandwidth, more than half of the 6% of global bandwidth allotted for file sharing. BitTorrent has declined in popularity since then and lost most of its user base.
The acquisition might save BitTorrent, which has now been renamed as Rainberry. The file-sharing technology behind BitTorrent is still efficient and useful regardless of the company’s struggles and could be put to good use if integrated into the TRON platform.
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