A Strong Community Has Allowed Tron (TRX) to Trudge Higher Despite 2023 Hiccups

From a low of $0.05063 in the first week of January to recent highs of $0.0693, Tron (TRX) has managed to consistently trudge higher throughout 2023 in the face of various controversies.

YTD TRX/USD

When looking at the performance of TRX year-to-date, it is clear that major events on March 9th (pending collapse of SVB) and March 22nd (SEC lawsuit) had a short, but pronounced, effect on its price.

However, aside from these periods, the price movements of TRX have been surprisingly tame while maintaining an upwards trajectory.  On the back of this strength, Tron has managed to maintain its position within the Top-20 projects by marketcap, sitting at #13 at time of writing.

Bumps in the Road

It should be noted that the following examples of price moving events encountered by Tron (TRX) in 2023 are not to disparage the project, but rather to highlight the resilience of its backers, developers, and overall community.

Poloniex Settlement

The first, and most recent, example of a TRX price-moving event came on May 1 when it was announced by the Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) that a settlement had been reached with digital asset exchange Poloniex.  The issue at hand stemmed from allegations of poor KYC practices by the exchange, which allowed for clients in restricted areas to gain access to its platform.

While this event was not directly tied to Tron on its surface, it appeared to have an effect on the price of TRX due to the exchanges affiliation with Tron creator, Justin Sun, who is a prominent investor in Poloniex.

May 1st – TRX/USD

When looking at the price action in the hours that followed the announcement of a settlement – which amounted to a fine of $7.6M – there was a clear and surge upwards in the value of TRX that has continued to build as we near weeks end.  This remains one of the more noteworthy positive spikes in the value of TRX this year.

Binance.US Delisting

Looking back to April 12th, Tron experienced one of its more dramatic downturns of the year when it was announced that Binance.US would be delisting TRX.  Almost immediately after bottoming out though, TRX regained its footing, started its march upwards again, and never looked back.

April 11-13 TRX/USD

While the exact reasoning for its delisting was not given, Binance.US noted at the time that its decision was made after a review of TRX during which it weighed the assets risk profile, trading metrics, and evidence of wrongdoing.  Reading between the lines though, and it is easy to see that recent developments at the time involving the SEC and allegations of massive fraud involving Justin Sun played a role – which brings us to our next example of tribulation weathered by Tron in 2023.

The SEC Crackdown

Inarguably, the biggest event which Tron has had to weather this year is the decision made by the SEC to label TRX a security, while simultaneously charging Justin Sun and various of his companies with a litany of alleged crimes.  This news, which broke on March 22nd, led to an immediate and pronounced decline in the value of TRX which saw the token plummet from $0.067 to $0.058 within an hour.

March 21-23, TRX/USD

Out of each of the issues to have been encountered by Tron this year, the allegations being made by the SEC will no doubt have the longest lasting effect on the adoption and performance of TRX.  Although the token price has largely rebounded for now, it will be some time before the situation is settled.

With this in mind, be wary of any pending price action if/when the next major development pertaining to the allegations is made public.  When this occurs, there will no doubt be many that panic, restoking fears of regulatory crackdown.  If past performance repeats itself though, any effect should be short-lived.

Final Word

Between a harsh crackdown by the SEC, being delisted on a major exchange, and drama associated with its creator, it would be reasonable to assume that Tron (TRX) would be underperforming this year.  However, its strong following which now amounts to over 150 million users, and its technical potential, have allowed it to avoid disaster and continue to thrive, making it clearly one of the more resilient projects to reside in the crop of projects atop the digital asset sector.

To learn more about this project, make sure to visit our Investing in Tron guide.