If Tron Is the Ethereum Killer, Where Are the Defi Apps?

If TRON (TRX) really is the ‘Ethereum Killer,’ then it should have its own DeFiDecentralized Finance (DeFi) is a term that is being used to describe the world of financial services that are increasingly... More apps. However, these seem impossible to find.

Decentralized Finance (or ‘DeFi’) is the hottest topic for Ethereum right now. In just the past few days, the network hit a milestone with over $1B in assets represented in its smart contracts. In mid-December, this number was just $600M, so the growth has been explosive especially since the start of 2020.

DeFi has, therefore, become one of the main selling points of Ethereum. Any competitor will have to offer the same capabilities if it wishes to be taken seriously as an ‘Ethereum Killer.’ TRON (TRX) has repeatedly claimed that it is the one to top Ethereum someday, however it seems to have absolutely no DeFi dApps whatsoever.

This was the same concern Colin Platt (@colingplatt) had when investigating TRON. Struggling to find any DeFi apps, he appealed to Twitter. Director of Research at The Block told Platt simply, “Good luck on your journey. I tried this a while ago and it was painful.”

Good luck on your journey. I tried this a while ago and it was painful

— Larry Cermak (@lawmaster) February 11, 2020

It seems that DeFi dApps on TRON are near-impossible to find and, if they do exist, hold negligible assets in their smart contract. That’s bad news for the self-styled ‘Ethereum Killer.’ The dApps that do exist on TRON are mostly gambling-related. For example, WINK is currently the leading dApp on TRON with $36,440 in daily volume for gambling. [Dapp.com]

Unless a cryptocurrency can directly compete with Ethereum in the realm of DeFi, it’s really not a competitor. Ethereum has successfully managed to craft a niche for itself which has helped to restore hopes in the project after the 2018 bearish market. Although it’s currently unclear how effective DeFi will be in enforcing its contracts, it’s still a one-of-a-kind undertaking in the cryptocurrency industry which now boasts over $1B in assets on-chain.

Whether or not a real competitor will be able to tackle Ethereum’s dominance in DeFi remains to be seen. As of now, this entire budding sector is almost strictly Ethereum only.