Justin Sun on the Future of Crypto

On Sept. 28-29, over 7,000 crypto enthusiasts, investors, and entrepreneurs gathered for Token2049, Asia’s largest cryptocurrency event.

Held in Singapore, the event featured a variety of panel discussions with leaders in the blockchain and crypto spaces, including Justin Sun, founder of the Tron blockchain, permanent ambassador for Grenada to the World Trade Organization, and newly appointed advisory board member of the Huobi exchange.

Justin Sun participated in a discussion on the topic of “The Future of Crypto: Navigating the Decade Ahead,’ joining Jump Crypto partner and head of investments Saurabh Sharma, among others.

Justin Sun first became involved in crypto in 2012, and at the event, he reflected on what’s changed over the course of a decade, and on what those changes mean for the decade to come.

“The first 10 years of crypto were all about gaining mainstream attention, while this next decade will be all about gaining mainstream adoption,’ said Sun.

‘In doing so, crypto will need to learn a lot from the history of traditional financial institutions, as we take on the huge responsibility of providing financial services for everyone. We need to help people feel confident we can do that.”

Among the panelists, Justin Sun’s experience as the founder of a Layer 1 blockchain a base blockchain used to validate and finalize transactions without the need for another network was unique.

Sun founded Tron in 2017 with the goal of decentralizing the web through smart contracts, and he has since seen Tron become fully decentralized and established as one of the largest community-governed decentralized autonomous organizations in crypto.

Tron’s DAO is specifically designed to foster a democratic, decentralized approach, with token holders governing the protocol through a unique delegated proof of stake (PoS) system in which validators are voted on by other token holders rather than determined by the sheer volume of tokens held.

Justin Sun believes this sort of ethos of radical decentralization will be crucial as crypto continues to evolve, with developers building a variety of decentralized applications (dApps) that demonstrate blockchain technology’s potential to apply to concrete use cases in the near future.

As Sun explained at the panel discussion, it will be important for developers to work together and embrace a variety of applications as crypto evolves over the next decade to build a more robust blockchain ecosystem.

“Even though we [panelists] have different ways of approaching the blockchain, what we must do is strive collaboratively. This is the key for blockchain development.

Tron’s focus is primarily on stablecoins, but it also offers [decentralized finance], [non-fungible tokens], exchange, [centralized finance], and other services. Our competitors aren’t each other; they are traditional financial institutions, insurance companies, and investment platforms.

The future is moving forward by offering a full deck of financial services together.”

Justin Sun on Stablecoins and the Future of Crypto

Stablecoins were a point of emphasis for Sun and the panel as they discussed how crypto can democratize access to financial services and challenge the traditional financial industry’s reliance on intermediaries.

These coins are designed to retain stable values through pegging to currencies such as the U.S. dollar.

The goal of stablecoins is to provide users with a means of engaging in the crypto space using an asset that’s not subject to the fluctuations of other tokens: an asset that enables access to DeFi but possesses the stability of a traditional currency.

Some have criticized the viability of the concept of algorithmic-based stablecoins, particularly after the collapse of Terra’s UST, which was tied to the luna token.

However, Sun has argued that the crash of UST was the result of a poorly designed system and that the issues that plagued UST can be prevented through a more decentralized approach and over-collateralization.

In line with this logic, the Tron ecosystem launched the Decentralized USD (USDD) stablecoin in May 2022.

As the first decentralized, over-collateralized stablecoin, USDD is backed and guided by the Tron DAO Reserve, the first crypto reserve for the blockchain industry, with a minimum collateral ratio of 120% supported by a basket of high-quality crypto assets to ensure the peg to the U.S. dollar.

This hybrid model is distinct from centralized stablecoins that rely on off-chain institutions, such as banks, to collateralize the coin via a fiat currency.

By contrast, a decentralized stablecoin utilizes smart contracts to implement on-chain collateral backing that’s transparent to anyone using the blockchain.

For Justin Sun, this decentralized hybrid approach is the future of stablecoins, which he sees as foundationally important to the evolution of DeFi and blockchain participation.

Sun explained this view, and how USDD and blockchain-based stablecoins differ from centralized stablecoins, in a recent interview with CoinGecko.

“Stablecoins are way too important. It’s basically the foundation of the industry, and that’s why first of all we need to have a blockchain-based stablecoin The problem for luna and the UST is that they only have one correlation. So, basically, all the UST is 100% based on luna, which I think caused this kind of bad death spiral.”

At Token2049, Sun reaffirmed his commitment to establishing a stablecoin built for the evolution of the crypto space, explaining that ultimately these coins will play a key role in achieving DeFi’s mission of removing barriers of access to financial services and banking by eliminating the need for central institutions, while also mitigating the risk of volatility.

“Stablecoins are Tron’s priority and focus and have been since day one. Why? Because they provide a vast store of value for the greatest number of people,” said Sun on the panel.

“People in the U.S. have easy access to a bank. It’s like normal everyday infrastructure for them. But for most of the rest of the world, 95% of the population even, they can only hold their own native currency, but not U.S. dollars.

The blockchain provides users a way to have their own sort of bank account, creating a wallet in five seconds with zero costs. Then they can store a U.S. dollar equivalent stablecoin in their own wallet, which provides them access into the broader global economy.”

A Collaborative, Decentralized Approach

Ultimately, Sun struck a tone of solidarity with the industry at the panel, explaining that the next decade of advancement in crypto and blockchain technology will rely on different projects working together to create a well-rounded, accessible, and stable blockchain space that can challenge traditional finance and boost the global economy.

For Justin Sun, the future of crypto will involve continuing to emphasize broader decentralization through developments in areas such as stablecoins, DeFi, and dApps, with the goal of providing the accessibility and stability needed to establish mainstream adoption.

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