TRON 2024: A Milestone Year of Record-Breaking Performance, Memecoin Launches, and Illicit Activity Mitigation

The second half of 2024 was a milestone period for the TRON network. It delivered record-breaking performance across key metrics, saw $TRX hit all-time highs, and experienced a surge in ecosystem activity driven by memecoin launches.

The second half of 2024 was a record-breaking period for the TRON network. In early December, the native token $TRX hit a new all-time high of $0.416. As of early 2025, the token’s price has adjusted to $0.225.

At this price level, 94% of wallets holding $TRX are in profit. Historically, $TRX has displayed consistent upward price momentum. The token’s value generally increases over time, with major price drops occurring only after exponential growth cycles, which generally happens every four years. Importantly, the price has never returned to the previous lows of earlier cycles.

This price behavior sets $TRX apart from many other large-cap altcoins, as holders of $TRX tend to remain profitable for most of their holding period.

Another interesting aspect of $TRX’s price performance is its relation to the token’s blockchain metrics. Among these metrics, the price-to-revenue ratio stands out as a crucial indicator for fundamental analysis.

At the start of H2 2024, before the native token’s price surge, TRON led the market with the lowest price-to-revenue ratio of 26.7. (A lower ratio indicates higher revenue relative to market capitalization.) While this metric is common in the tech sector of the stock market, it is exceptional in cryptocurrency.

After the exponential price growth, the ratio has shifted but TRON remains among the market’s best.

More than that, TRON has emerged as the most cost-efficient L1 blockchain in 2024, spending only $0.85 for every $1 generated in fee revenue. In comparison, Aptos spent over 300 times more on incentives than it earned in fees. Bitcoin’s Proof-of-Work model spent $80 billion on miner incentives while generating $6.6 billion in transaction fees.

In terms of absolute revenue, TRON ranked second only to Ethereum. Together, Ethereum, TRON, and Solana accounted for over 95% of total blockchain revenue.

Now, let’s shift our attention to another key area of TRON’s performance — stablecoin activity. The network has solidified its leadership in this segment, becoming the most popular network for transferring stablecoins between centralized exchanges.

Several factors contribute to this success: TRON boasts the lowest transaction fees among the leading blockchains, making it highly cost-effective for transferring large volumes of stablecoins.

Additionally, TRON offers fast transaction speeds, enabling traders to quickly move their stablecoins between exchanges to capitalize on price movements or arbitrage opportunities.

Finally, the network's stability and reliability ensure that stablecoin transfers are processed smoothly and without any significant delays or disruptions.

Returning to the overall metrics, TRON ranked among the top three blockchains for active addresses in H2 2024. This indicates a high level of network usage and activity, which is crucial for a decentralized blockchain.

Moreover, during this period, TRON ranks among the top three blockchains in terms of transaction volume. A higher transaction volume signifies increased usage of the network for various types of transactions, including token transfers, smart contract interactions, and decentralized application (dApp) activity.

As for the Total Value Locked (TVL) metric, in the second half of 2024, TRON lost some ground to BSC and the rapidly growing Bitcoin ecosystem, driven by restaking protocols. However, it still remains in the top five.

Thus, TRON has established itself as a leader in blockchain performance across several key metrics, driven by its strong product-market fit in the stablecoin segment.

However, there was one hugely popular market segment where TRON did not achieve significant success in the past half-year: the memecoin sector. Recognizing the missed opportunity, Justin Sun and his team made decisive moves in mid-2024 to reclaim relevance, delivering results that exceeded expectations.

By mid-2024, it became clear that pump.fun on the Solana blockchain — a platform where anyone could launch their own token in just a few clicks and almost for free — was the most prominent and successful project of the cycle. It had already generated massive revenue and gained a massive following.

On August 13, TRON responded by launching its own version, SunPump; the name as a nod to its origin, built on the AMM protocol SunSwap, with its smart contracts actively powering the platform. Despite initial skepticism, SunPump quickly proved to be serious competition for pump.fun, especially in its first month of operation.

So much so, meme tokens launched on SunPump during its early days often outperformed those on pump.fun.

Within a month, the pace of token launches on the platform and their average market performance stabilized, reflecting a shift toward a more sustainable growth phase.

This trend is not uncommon in the crypto