TRON was founded by Justin Sun in 2017. Born in China in 1990, Sun studied at Peking University and the University of Pennsylvania, and in late 2013 joined Ripple Labs as its first Greater China representative before launching his own project.
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Sep. 2017: ICO raises ~$70 million, days before China banned ICOs.
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May 2018: independent mainnet launches; June: network splits from Ethereum (“Independence Day”); July: BitTorrent acquisition closes (~$140M).
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2021: the TRON Foundation reorganizes into a DAO; Justin Sun formally steps down as CEO but remains the project's key figure.
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Sun also owns the Poloniex and HTX exchanges, and is the issuer of the USDD stablecoin (via TRON DAO Reserve).
TRON*'*s original goal was decentralizing content distribution — a vision that later expanded into broader blockchain infrastructure (stablecoin transfers, DeFi).