TRX Posts 18% Weekly Gain Driven by Memecoin Madness

Tron, the second largest chain in DeFi by total value locked (TVL), is experiencing an influx of assets and token price appreciation as memecoin traders flock to the ecosystem.

Over the last week Tron’s TRX token is up 18% to $0.153, and the chain’s TVL is up nearly 7% to $8.2 billion after Sun.io launched a native Pump.fun competitor dubbed Sun Pump.

The platform launched on August 13 and operates similarly to Pump.Fun, where users trade token launches on a native bonding curve until they reach a threshold of roughly $75,000.

Traders have been flocking to the platform after the SUNDOG token skyrocketed to a $250 million market capitalization in just 5 days. SUNDOG currently commands a $200 million market cap, and the second largest memecoin on the platform, FOFAR, is at $35 million.

In addition to the degen activity, the network has also bolstered its stablecoin supply. Tether’s treasury minted another $1 billion worth of USDT to Tron this morning.

Tron maintains a staggering 98% USDT dominance rate and is the second largest stablecoin ecosystem in DeFi, with $61.7 billion of assets, compared to Ethereum’s $92.2 billion. Solana is the third-largest but pales in comparison with only $3.8 billion.

Over the last year, Tether has minted 33 billion USDT in total, of which $19 billion, or 57%, is on Tron, according to LookOnChain.