In 2025, what key upgrades have mainstream DeFi applications on the TRON network achieved?

As the financial core engine of the TRON ecosystem, the DeFi sector successfully achieved a leap from a basic financial service provider to an ecological value hub by 2025 through the continuous iteration and innovation of mainstream applications such as JustLend DAO, SUN.io, BTTC, and WINKLink. It has built a decentralized financial service system that is safe, efficient, and possesses both innovative vitality and collaborative capability.

The lending protocol JustLend DAO, as the core vehicle for asset appreciation in the TRON ecosystem, has not only become the main gateway for traditional compliant capital to enter the TRON ecosystem but has also deeply bound token value with protocol revenue and ecological growth through the implementation of a large-scale JST buyback and burn mechanism, forming a solid value closed loop.

The liquidity core hub SUN.io has achieved significant expansion of its business structure: on one hand, its meme coin issuance platform SunPump continues to ignite ecological enthusiasm, activating market liquidity and becoming the core engine for ecological traffic growth; on the other hand, the newly launched decentralized perpetual contract platform SunX successfully fills the service gap in ecological derivatives, forming a diversified service matrix of "spot trading + derivatives hedging + innovative asset issuance" in synergy with existing spot business, comprehensively enhancing the breadth and depth of liquidity services.

The cross-chain protocol BTTC has made breakthroughs in cross-chain transmission efficiency and security, completing a major upgrade to version 2.0 in June. By reconstructing the underlying logic through a modular layered architecture, it has achieved standardization and efficiency improvements in cross-chain processes; simultaneously, it has optimized the BTT token economic model, reducing total supply to strengthen scarcity. While enhancing network security protection capabilities, it has injected continuous momentum into the long-term value of the token, making it the core value transmission infrastructure connecting TRON with multi-chain ecosystems.

The oracle infrastructure WINkLink has continuously broadened the reach of data services through technological upgrades and ecological resource integration, providing critical and reliable foundational data support for the diversified application landing and scaled development of the TRON ecosystem.

With systematic breakthroughs achieved by mainstream DeFi applications in value capture, business matrix construction, cross-chain interoperability, and underlying data support, the TRON DeFi ecosystem has not only strengthened the synergistic effects and value circulation among various internal links but has also solidified its foundational strength as a next-generation decentralized financial hub, unleashing a continuous stream of innovative vitality.

Continuous Deepening of DeFi Value: Large-scale JST Buyback and Burn, New Derivative SunX from SUN.io; BTTC Optimizes Token Model, WINKLink Expands Service Scenarios

JustLend DAO: From Lending Protocol to Ecological Value Hub

As the core pillar of the TRON ecosystem's financial infrastructure, JustLend DAO has achieved leapfrog development from a lending protocol to an ecological value hub through continuous functional integration and strategic upgrades, building a full-chain decentralized financial solution that integrates asset lending appreciation, staking services, and Gas cost optimization.

Currently, JustLend DAO has completed deep integration of multiple core DeFi modules, forming an integrated product matrix covering lending markets (SBM), liquidity staking sTRX (Staked TRX), and energy rental (Energy Rental), providing users with comprehensive and diverse on-chain financial services. Users can meet all financial needs such as SBM lending, TRX network staking, and energy rental to reduce on-chain Gas costs on the JustLend DAO platform without cross-platform operations, thereby comprehensively enhancing capital efficiency and interaction experience.

Beyond core products, JustLend DAO has also centered on user experience, innovatively launching the GasFree smart wallet in March this year, allowing users to directly deduct fees from transferred tokens, breaking the industry limitation of "must hold native tokens to trade." Additionally, JustLend DAO has simultaneously launched a 90% transfer fee subsidy campaign, allowing users to pay only about 1 USDT in fees for each GasFree transfer of USDT (regardless of amount).

In mid-October, JustLend DAO officially implemented a large-scale JST buyback and burn mechanism, clearly incorporating all net income from the protocol and over $10 million of part of the income from the USDD multi-chain ecosystem into the JST buyback and burn fund pool. Subsequently, JustLend DAO extracted approximately $59.087 million from existing revenue and initiated the first round of burns, executing the first operation at a 30% ratio (approximately $17.726 million), corresponding to the destruction of 559.8 million JST, accounting for 5.66% of the total token supply; the remaining 70% will be executed quarterly.

This buyback and burn initiative has optimized the economic model of JST at its core: on one hand, it actively reduces the circulating supply, reinforcing token scarcity through deflationary effects, solidifying long-term value support; on the other hand, it achieves a deep binding of ecological revenue and token holder interests.

In terms of asset trading channels, JST continues to deepen its layout. In April, the compliant exchange Kraken launched JST/USD and JST/EUR spot trading pairs, followed by Binance listing JST/USDT perpetual contracts, with Lbank and several other exchanges following suit, significantly enhancing asset liquidity and market recognition.

In the process of bridging traditional finance and on-chain ecosystems, JustLend DAO has also made breakthrough progress. As early as the end of June this year, the TRON-listed company Tron completed the staking operation of 365 million TRX through the JustLend DAO platform. This milestone event not only fully validated the platform's industry-leading level in compliance, security, and large asset handling capabilities but also established JustLend DAO as the core channel for traditional compliant capital to enter the TRON ecosystem.

As of December 19, the total locked value (TVL) on the JustLend DAO platform has reached $6.37 billion, consistently ranking among the top three global lending protocols. Among them, the supply asset scale in the SBM lending market has reached $3.92 billion; the sTRX liquidity staking sector has attracted over 9.2 billion TRX; and the energy rental service, due to its practicality, has covered 72,000 users. These data fully demonstrate the platform's strong ecological value and broad user recognition.

SUN.io: Innovative Evolution and Ecological Expansion of the Liquidity Hub

As the largest asset issuance and trading hub in the TRON ecosystem, SUN.io successfully constructed a complete product matrix covering four core businesses: DEX trading, stablecoin exchange, meme asset issuance, and derivatives contracts through continuous product innovation and iteration by 2025, becoming a key liquidity infrastructure supporting the efficient circulation of TRON ecosystem assets.

Currently, the SUN.io ecosystem includes product components such as the DEX platform SunSwap, stablecoin exchange SunCurve and PSM, meme issuance tool SunPump, and decentralized perpetual contract SunX (formerly SunPerp), enabling one-stop access to multi-scenario financial trading services.

In 2025, SUN.io's core business flourished in multiple areas: its meme coin issuance platform SunPump continues to activate market liquidity; the newly added decentralized perpetual contract platform SunX fills the gap in derivatives, working in synergy with existing spot business to construct a diversified service matrix of "spot + derivatives + innovative asset issuance," comprehensively enhancing the breadth and depth of liquidity services.

In core trading scenarios, SunSwap has undertaken about 90% of the asset trading volume on the TRON network, with daily trading volume consistently stable at over $100 million, providing an efficient channel for financial circulation within the ecosystem. According to official data, on December 30, the value of crypto assets locked in SunSwap's liquidity pools was approximately $480 million, with the number of created liquidity pools exceeding 25,700, and the trading volume processed in the past week exceeding $420 million.

In terms of innovative assets, SunPump, with its low-threshold issuance tools and full-chain empowerment system, continues to activate the vitality of the meme asset ecosystem, repeatedly igniting market enthusiasm and becoming the core engine for ecological traffic growth.

In the derivatives track, SUN.io launched the first native on-chain perpetual contract platform SunX in the TRON ecosystem in September 2025, not only filling the service gap in ecological derivatives but also reconstructing the DeFi derivatives service paradigm with institutional-level risk control standards and low-latency trading experiences. According to the latest operational data, SunX's cumulative trading volume has surpassed $16 billion, successfully ranking among the top eleven in the global decentralized perpetual contract track.

In terms of token value construction, the SUN token continues to deepen its deflationary model relying on the revenue buyback mechanism. As of now, the cumulative amount of SUN tokens burned has approached 650 million, of which 362 million came from SunSwap V2 revenue buybacks and 285 million from SunPump revenue buybacks, with the deflationary effect continuing to manifest.

At the same time, the global trading layout of the SUN token is steadily advancing: in March, it landed on the compliant exchange Hashkey Global in Hong Kong, taking a key step towards compliance; in April, it was listed on the globally renowned exchange Kraken, significantly enhancing international market liquidity and brand influence; in September, it was listed on South Korea's leading exchange Upbit with SUN/KRW and SUN/USDT trading pairs, with the highest increase on the listing day reaching 28%, rapidly activating incremental growth in the South Korean market. These layouts not only greatly enhance SUN's compliance recognition but also significantly strengthen its market liquidity and global influence.

From DEX trading to meme ecosystem construction, and then to the expansion of the derivatives market, SUN.io constructs a diversified growth curve through continuous product innovation and scenario expansion.

In addition, SUN.io is brewing a series of important upgrades, with related progress expected to be gradually announced soon.

BTTC: Upgraded Iteration of Cross-Chain Interconnectivity and Token Deflation

As the core hub of cross-chain infrastructure in the TRON ecosystem, the cross-chain protocol BTTC completed a series of strategic upgrades and iterations in 2025, achieving breakthrough improvements in network security and cross-chain transmission efficiency.

In June this year, BTTC officially upgraded to version 2.0, reconstructing the underlying architecture of cross-chain technology through modular layering and standardized process decomposition design. This version transforms the cross-chain process "source chain request initiation ------ information transmission ------ target chain execution" into a universal logic and standardized protocol, corresponding to the construction of a three-layer architecture: Root Contracts (root chain layer: cross-chain request initiation) ------ Delivery (relay layer: information transmission) ------ BitTorrent Chain (execution layer: DApp application running platform layer), while adopting a PoS consensus mechanism. Ultimately, BTTC has built a secure, efficient, and scalable cross-chain network, providing a solid technical foundation for asset flow and application collaboration between multiple chains.

At the same time, BTTC 2.0 has also optimized the core economic model of the BTT token: by regulating the total amount, it reduces the total supply of BTT, strengthening token scarcity; and sets a stable staking benchmark yield of 6%, allowing BTT holders to participate in network governance and security maintenance through staking. This design not only enhances the participation enthusiasm of BTTC network nodes and the network's protective capabilities but also injects continuous momentum into the long-term value of BTT.

On July 29, BTTC further launched an upgraded Layer 2 expansion plan aimed at enhancing network scalability and user experience while maintaining decentralization. This plan is compatible with the Ethereum ecosystem, supporting seamless migration of existing applications and providing users with a high-throughput, low-cost trading environment.

Relying on continuous technological innovation iterations and ecological collaboration, BTTC has upgraded to a core hub for multi-chain value interconnectivity: externally, it has opened asset transfer channels between TRON and mainstream public chains such as Ethereum and BNB Chain, attracting external funds, projects, and users to efficiently flow into the TRON ecosystem. Internally, it provides cross-chain circulation outlets for TRON's meme assets, DeFi products, etc., helping them expand into other public chain ecological markets and achieve cross-domain radiation of ecological influence.

WINkLink: The Data Bridge Connecting On-Chain and Off-Chain Worlds

As the core oracle infrastructure of the TRON ecosystem, WINkLink empowers DApps with real-time off-chain data, providing accurate price feeds and verifiable random numbers, building a trust bridge between blockchain and the real world. With WINkLink, developers can access precise price data and on-chain information, thereby enhancing the security and reliability of on-chain applications such as DeFi.

In August this year, WINkLink announced the completion of a comprehensive ecological upgrade, officially opening up to global developers. This upgrade will provide higher security levels and more reliable and scalable on-chain data services for diverse application scenarios such as DeFi, NFT, and RWA on the TRON network.

This year, WINkLink has already established integration partnerships with dozens of CEXs and wallets: in the exchange sector, there are MEXC, CoinEX, WEEK, etc.; in wallet integration, WINkLink has achieved deep cooperation with multi-chain wallets GuardaWallet, Atomic Wallet, Klever, and hardware wallets ELLIPAL, OneKey, providing users with a safer and smoother Web3 self-custody and on-chain experience, jointly promoting the large-scale application of the TRON ecosystem.

Deep Advancement of the DeFi Ecosystem, TRON Solidifies Its Core in Global Financial Infrastructure

In summary, mainstream DeFi applications such as JustLend DAO and SUN.io have achieved multidimensional systematic upgrades in 2025: in value capture, through mechanisms like JST buyback and burn, deeply binding token value with ecological revenue; in business matrix, protocols like SUN.io have extended from spot to derivatives and asset issuance, constructing a complete service closed loop; in cross-chain interconnectivity, BTTC 2.0 has enhanced efficiency and security through architecture and token model upgrades; in underlying data, infrastructures like WINkLink continue to provide high-reliability data support. These upgrades not only strengthen the internal value circulation and collaborative efficiency of the ecosystem but also solidify TRON's core position as the next-generation DeFi hub from an infrastructure perspective, unleashing innovative vitality and laying a solid foundation for the long-term healthy development of the ecosystem.

According to DeFiLlama data, as of December 25, the total locked value (TVL) of TRON's on-chain DeFi has exceeded $4.4 billion, consistently ranking among the top five global public chains. This data not only demonstrates the solid foundation and strong resilience of the TRON DeFi ecosystem but also reflects the market's high recognition of its technological strength, ecological layout, and future potential.

Currently, TRON has constructed a clearly defined and highly efficient DeFi infrastructure matrix: SUN.io serves as the liquidity core, providing efficient fund exchange and circulation services; JustLend DAO acts as the lending hub, assisting in capital appreciation and allocation optimization; BTTC undertakes the role of cross-chain hub, ensuring the free flow of funds across chains; and WINkLink oracle empowers DApps with real-time off-chain data, enhancing the security and reliability of DeFi applications. The four core applications work in synergy to build a multidimensional integrated service system of "liquidity supply - asset appreciation - cross-chain interoperability - security empowerment," providing solid support for ecological development.

Under the empowerment of a full-chain, highly collaborative DeFi infrastructure matrix, core resources such as assets, users, and applications within the TRON ecosystem have achieved deep integration and efficient linkage, with the four core modules of liquidity, lending, cross-chain, and data collaborating seamlessly to drive continuous growth in ecological value and optimal resource allocation, propelling TRON steadily to become a core benchmark of the next generation of global financial infrastructure.