Tron has remained in the headlines so far in 2019, following the launch of the BitTorrent token on the Tron ecosystem. The excitement behind the project is clear, as the token sold out within 15 minutes of being launched on the Binance Launchpad program.

Tron is a blockchain platform that is designed to be the foundation of a decentralized entertainment platform. The cryptocurrency has thus far been the superior contender in the “dApp wars,” as Tron dApps have significantly more active users than those of their rivals, Ethereum and EOS.

Tron has also recently amassed some great partnerships and has announced some major upgrades on the way to both Tron and BTT. With these upgrades on the horizon, we decided to take a look at whether Tron has the potential to increase by 250% by the end of 2019. We will look at the positive drivers that might help this occur, as well as a potential negative driver which might hold Tron back. For Tron to increase by 250% the market will need to rise to $0.08 before the end of 2019, as displayed on the chart below;

Positive Drivers

Partnerships

As mentioned above, Tron has announced a range of partnerships in 2019. The cryptocurrency has been added to CoinGate, allowing users to pay merchants using the Tron token and therefore increasing the use case for Tron.

The project has also announced a partnership with ABBC Exchange, in which the exchange will list TRC-10 tokens based on the Tron protocol.

Perhaps the most exciting partnership to watch out for is with Tether. The two have teamed up to launch a stablecoin native to the Tron blockchain that is interoperable with all Tron-based protocols and dApps.

BitTorrent Speed

Tron acquired BitTorrent last year for a rumored hefty sum of $140 million. The purchase of BitTorrent has greatly increased the user base of Tron due to the 100 million users that BitTorrent had amassed before the takeover.

Tron is aiming to release BitTorrent Speed at some point in Q2 2019. The application will allow users to be compensated in BitTorrent Tokens to provide bandwidth and speed as they share data on the BitTorrent program.

ZK-SNARKS

Another exciting development to look forward to in Q2 2019 is the implementation of ZK-SNARKS to the Tron protocol. ZK-SNARKS are a privacy technology that was first implemented on ZCash.

In today’s world where personal data a highly coveted resource to advertisers, it is in the best interest of Tron users to keep their data private. The implementation of ZK-SNARKS will allow Tron users to conduct private transactions that are nearly impossible to trace through blockchain forensics.

Potential Negative Drivers

One major negative driver that has the potential to greatly hinder the growth of Tron in 2019 is the overarching SEC regulation. At the start of the year, Thomas Schulz, CEO of ChaChing Wallet, posted the following tweet warning users to keep away from Tron;

Schulz then went on to state that Tron conducts aggressive marketing campaigns to convince users to buy Tron tokens. However, as Tron is conducting the marketing and is the primary influence in the user’s decision for purchasing Tron tokens, it leaves them liable. He also went on to argue that as Tron has an office in the US and had conducted an ICO, the SEC would have grounds for regulation.

However, it is important to remember that this is just a rumor at this moment in time. We will need to wait to hear more from the SEC before this may have a negative impact on the growth of Tron.

Tron Long-Term Price Analysis

Let us take a look at the TRX/USD market and highlight some key areas of resistance on the way up to $0.08.

Tron is currently battling to remain above the 100-day moving average, but has struggled to break above this level during March 2019.

If the market can break above the 100-day moving average, initial resistance higher can then be expected at the bearish .236 Fibonacci Retracement level priced at $0.02855. This bearish Fibonacci Retracement level is measured from the May 21, 2018 high to the December 2018 low.

Higher resistance above $0.035 then lies at the bearish .382 Fibonacci Retracement level priced at $0.03930. If the bulls continue to climb above $0.04, more resistance is then expected at the $0.05013 level.

Before Tron can complete the 250% price increase, the market will then need to break above resistance at the bearish .618 Fibonacci Retracement level at $0.05667 and higher resistance at $0.06395 and $0.070.

Conclusion

Tron does have a strong potential to increase by 250% and reach $0.08 before the end of 2019. This will largely be helped by the introduction of BitTorrent Speed and the integration of ZK-SNARKS privacy technology. However, like most ICO coins, overregulation could really damage the growth potential of Tron. We will have to wait until the SEC release more information on how they will plan to go ahead and regulate any coins.