The Independent Republic

Tron (TRX)–Tron.Live posted a recent interview with one of TRX’s largest partnerships to date, Game.com’s CEO Xu Le. Despite building relationships with key players, Tron has been on the receiving end of one of the strongest FUD campaigns of any cryptocurrency. Most of the vitriol is being driven by bitter emotions over the price swing of TRX the past two months. Tron started December trading at 0.002 USD and reached a peak of 0.30 USD in the first week of 2018. This meteoric rise in price constituted a percentage gain of 14,900%, nearly the same as what Bitcoin experienced throughout all of 2017. The sudden price jump made early investors absurdly wealthy, but also created an atmosphere of jealousy and missed opportunity. Investors late to the party suffered from the sharp drop back to 0.05 USD, a decrease in price of nearly 90%.

Hurt wallets create hurt feelings, and in the fallout previous TRX investors were looking to place the blame. Tron suffered from reaching peak pricing just as the cryptomarket crested in value. The rollback from previous highs has been unanimous across the market, with nearly every coin posting in the red. The losses for TRX have been huge over the past month, but also compounded by poor timing and overextended expectations. We are seeing an equally severe correction, which should give long-term holders of Tron assurance that there will be a bounce back in price in the positive direction when the market begins its upturn. We are also seeing a growing need for more ubiquitous fiat/coin pairings on exchanges, or at the very least an alternative to BTC being the currency of choice. As it stands, the entire market is under the yoke of Bitcoin pricing. While Bitcoin will hold a central place in cryptocurrency for at least the foreseeable future, more direct pairings with coins will allow the market to dictate the value as opposed to filtering through the intermediary price of BTC. For instance, despite a week of red in Tron pricing, TRX has remained stable in the 600-700 satoshi range, meaning investors are putting up the same amount of capital even if the fiat pricing varies. With direct fiat pairings  the market can more accurately determine the price of TRX, which is likely well above the current valuation of pennies-per-coin.

To fight the FUD and look past the myopic view of the current bear market, here are a few takeaways from Game.com’s CEO Xu Le on his partnership with Justin Sun and Tron:

Xu Le, Tron and Game.com

A premium on partnerships. Xu Le begins the interview discussing his selective process for developing partnerships with both people and companies that he finds interesting, having invested in “30-40 companies” over the past several years. His focus is on developing mutually beneficial relationships, that can pay long-term dividends for both parties. TRX has the chance to be such a relationship, with Just Sun’s project benefiting from the usability of TRX on a gaming platform, while Game.com develops a bridge into the world of cryptocurrency.

A blending of crypto and entertainment. Tron’s mission has been to revolutionize the world of digital entertainment. Game.com presents a step in that direction, a sentiment echoed by CEO Le, “There are many talented individuals in this field [of cryptocurrency]…However, I think that this new world still lacks content and entertainment.” Xu Le’s goal for his digital platform is to increase the exposure and availability of online gaming to a population in need of modern entertainment. A partnership with Tron, which looks to improve the backend of entertainment systems, could create a force multiplier in achieving this shared ambition, “A company with a business model poised for breakout growth, along with the addition of blockchain, will speed up the breakout growth in a company’s core business.”

Blockchain is a great technology, but only so far as it can be implemented for use. Le is excited for the technology of blockchain to evolve and be applied to existing business, but he keeps it in the frame of a tool. Like the internet, blockchain is a technology that must be built upon and implemented to have any true value, “I think the most important part in [blockchain] is how we can utilize the technology to achieve better things, build greater platforms and offer more creative services.” Le makes an important distinction. With the waning dominance of Bitcoin, we are seeing more pundits talking about the value of blockchain and the value-less nature of cryptocurrency. But crypto, at least in its current form, is the manifestation of blockchain. The primary purpose of these currencies is to create early-adopter technology that combines blockchain and decentralization to provide a new service or build upon an old one.

Implementation of blockchain gaming. Le delineates his company’s vision for implementing blockchain in the gaming world. First, focus on strong development that builds a fun game to expose blockchain and crypto to the masses, “introduce games with blockchain concept so everyone will have a good gaming experience.” As much as we want widespread adoption, crypto will have to create services that people want to use. For Game.com, that means creating a game that combines the innovation of crypto with with the pleasure derived from an entertaining game. Second, rely upon partnerships with current cryptocurrencies (Tron highlighted here), to the mutual benefit of both the user and the company. Le reaffirms a commitment to foster growth through partnerships with crypto, while retaining the focus of creating services that will entertain and ignite his user base.

Crowdfunding. One of the less explored features of cryptocurrency has been implementation in the massively growing field of crowdfunding. The newfound wealth of crypto provides both the capital and ease of use to build campaigns and support services as opposed to going through traditional fiat routes. Game.com has aspirations to pursue crowdfunding in the future, solely through the use of cryptocurrency. Le sees crowdfunding as a windfall for the gaming industry, particularly the type that will be publishing through his platform, as a way to fund projects gamers want and without creating the bloat of a typical production company.

Justin Sun and the Future of Tron

Tron is not the only currency partnering with Game.com, but it is the largest in terms of market capitalization. Le assuages the fear many fans of TRX and Justin Sun hold that the company is all ambition and no substance, “Sometimes, when you are new to certain things that you do not have much understanding on, it’s hard to see where things are going.” Le affirms that he was originally skeptical of Tron’s white paper, and wondered if the claims were too bold to fill expectations. However, he is a strong proponent of Justin Sun’s vision and work ethic, and praises Tron’s founder for working past the struggle of China’s hard stance on cryptocurrency to make TRX as prominent of a cryptocurrency as it is today. Say what you want about Justin Sun and his over-promise approach to marketing: he knows how to get things done. Game.com is not going to be the company that moons the price of TRX, but it could be the linchpin that gets the machine started.

Read the full interview here.