Key Highlights
- Justin Sun said TRON wants to work with major TradFi players to bring “trillions” in tokenized dollars and assets on-chain in 2026.
- TRON’s stablecoin rail is already massive, with USDT supply on the network sitting around $83B.
- TRX remains under pressure near $0.29, reinforcing the gap between network usage and token value capture.
Justin Sun, founder of the TRON network, says 2026 will be the year when major tradefi leaders, like asset manager BlackRock and stock exchanges Nasdaq and NYSE, begin to push for settlements and tokenized assets on the blockchain. Sun wants to position TRON as the settlement layer for that shift.
In an interview on January 29, Sun said TRON could support trillions of dollars in on-chain settlement as early as 2026. “Our focus is to support stablecoins, issuers, and developers with low fees and high throughput, and to keep upgrading the network so it can handle much larger settlement volumes in the future,” he said.
Stablecoin powers TRON’s trillion-dollar vision
For Sun, the signal of TRON’s relevance is not its native token TRX, but the scale of value moving across the network. USDT circulating on TRON has surpassed $83 billion, far exceeding the market value of TRX itself.
The network is built as a neutral infrastructure, prioritizing throughput, low fees, and reliability, while allowing applications and stablecoins to capture most of the economic value. This design has turned it into one of the most widely used settlement networks, especially for remittances and high-frequency stablecoin transfers.
A bid to become a global settlement layer
Looking ahead, TRON aims to serve as a bridge between traditional finance and blockchain-based settlement. Sun said the network plans to work with major financial institutions and market infrastructure providers, including exchanges and asset managers, to support 24/7 settlement of tokenized dollars and securities.
If assets are to be traded and settled continuously across regions, from Asia to Africa, blockchain rails become unavoidable. In Justin’s view, stablecoins will be central to the transition, and TRON aims to be the network processing this flow.
Scaling for institutional volumes
To support that vision, TRON developers are exploring transaction batching and settlement-layer upgrades aimed at handling institutional-scale volumes more efficiently. Sun said these changes are critical if the network is to support millions of high-value transactions daily without sacrificing speed or cost.
TRON already processes an estimated tens of billions of dollars in daily transfer value, and the founder framed upcoming improvements as preparation for a much larger load rather than speculative growth.
Earlier this week, the network surpassed 4.59 million active accounts, marking a 36% increase month over month. The surge has been driven largely by the firm’s token dominance in USDT settlement and its recent Base integration, even as TRX price action remains under pressure.
High usage, muted price response
Despite growing activity, TRX has struggled to reflect that adoption. The token is trading near $0.29, down on the week, even as daily active accounts and transaction counts continue to rise.
Analysts say TRON’s fee model limits direct TRX demand, pushing growth toward stablecoin activity rather than price appreciation.
Sun acknowledged the gap but maintained that infrastructure-first growth is deliberate. Previous decisions, like cutting network fees by 60% in 2025, were framed as long-term investments in usage rather than short-term revenue optimization.
The founder also said Tron’s long-term ambition is to become a global settlement layer capable of hosting trillions of dollars in real-world financial assets, aligning with initiatives already being explored by major institutions like Nasdaq.
According to him, traditional stock exchanges are moving toward 24/7, on-chain settlement infrastructure, and TRON aims to position itself as the blockchain network that can support that scale.
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