Sapce Review | When the Tide Goes Out, the Survival Logic of Long-Termism and the Ecological Practice of TRON

When the rising tide recedes, the market faces its true test. In the ongoing downtrend, short-term narratives gradually lose effectiveness, and more projects reveal weaknesses that make it difficult to traverse cycles. The real test quietly arrives: without incremental capital, lacking emotional premiums, and with narratives gradually failing, what can a project or ecosystem rely on to cross the cycle?

The answer is: continuous, genuine value creation that does not depend on market sentiment. Even during a period of overall market gloom, we can still see such ecosystems in action. Taking TRON as an example, its ecosystem has not stagnated due to market fluctuations: from the heavy launch of the SUN Chinese brand "Sun Wukong," to the second buyback and burn of JST, and the full launch of the AINFT AI service platform, these actions collectively outline an ecosystem that is still actively building and progressing on multiple fronts.

TRON's multi-faceted practices reveal two key points of long-termism in the current context: the infrastructure of AI and the structural resilience of DeFi. This issue of the SunFlush roundtable focuses on these two dimensions, exploring what conditions an ecosystem must meet to traverse bull and bear markets, as well as TRON's practices in AI infrastructure and the DeFi space. Below is a recap of the highlights from this Space roundtable discussion.

Three Conditions for Ecosystems to Traverse Bull and Bear Markets: Healthy Operation, Cost Advantage, and Internal Circulation

Against the backdrop of an overall market slump and tightening liquidity, a series of once-hot phenomena began to recede. This forced industry participants to calm down and examine a core question: when the noise subsides, which ecosystem designs can withstand the cold, rather than merely relying on seasonal prosperity?

Around this core issue, Crypto.0824 pointed out in the discussion that long-termism is essentially the result of systematic design. He summarized ecosystems that can truly traverse bull and bear markets into two conditions that must be met simultaneously: First, the infrastructure must continue to operate healthily even under low activity, and its economic model should not rely on high transaction volumes to sustain itself; this is the underlying logic of anti-cyclicality. Second, the cost structure must be transparent and extremely low; in a bear market where users are highly sensitive to fees, this constitutes a key competitive advantage.

OxPink further emphasized the ecosystem's "pressure resistance" and "internal circulation" capabilities, stating that the core of truly resilient infrastructure lies in its ability to maintain the internal functional circulation of the system even in an environment lacking external sentiment and traffic. He stressed that what is tested during market downturns is not grand narratives, but whether the ecosystem truly addresses the real needs of users.

Miya used TRON's ecosystem as an example to specifically explain this mechanism: through highly competitive low fees, TRON's ecosystem continues to attract and retain a large flow of stablecoins, which not only forms the foundation for network usage but also naturally translates into DeFi activities, further consolidating trust and creating a brand effect, thereby building a self-reinforcing closed loop that continuously converts "real usage" into "network value." The operation of this endogenous engine does not rely on short-term price fluctuations in the token market but is rooted in sustainable real on-chain behavior and user demand.

In summary, the insights of the three guests progressively outline a complete picture of an ecosystem that can traverse cycles: it begins with systematic design (healthy operation, low cost, high autonomy), is refined through endogenous pressure resistance and circulation capabilities, and is ultimately validated through the practice of converting real usage into lasting value. When these elements work together, the ecosystem can build lasting resilience that transcends short-term prosperity amidst market fluctuations.

Counter-Cyclical Construction and Value Discovery: Long-Termism Practices in the Bear Market from TRON's Ecosystem Perspective

Based on the theoretical framework of traversing cycles, TRON's ecosystem provides a key practical sample. Even when the overall market is in decline, TRON's ecosystem continues to advance infrastructure construction in AI, DeFi, and other areas. These actions themselves provide the most direct observation window for "how long-termism should be implemented," transitioning from theoretical deduction to concrete practice.

• Why has AI become the main line in the bear market? The counter-cyclical insights from TRON's AINFT

As the market enters a downward cycle, the AI sector has paradoxically become the focus. Guests in the discussion pointed out that this is not merely a sector rotation, but an active selection of real value by the market after liquidity recedes. The bear market serves as a touchstone, filtering out short-term hotspots that rely on narratives and allowing underlying innovations with long-term value to emerge.

TRON's ecosystem chose to officially launch the AINFT AI service platform at this time, which is a proactive response to this trend. It is not only a technical layout for the AI sector but also a practical response to a fundamental question: what kind of innovation dares to and can continue to build during the trough of the cycle?

AnDY, the head of HI Labs, stated: the return of AI to the main line is not a new round of windfall switching, but an inevitable result of market selection. When the market tide recedes, all models that rely on sentiment and subsidies become unsustainable, while AI, as a tool that can enhance efficiency and reduce costs, reveals its practical value. It does not need market conditions to prove itself; its ability to traverse cycles will be naturally validated in a cooling market.

It is under this logic that the launch of the AINFT AI service platform holds symbolic significance. This platform is not a single model but an open service network that integrates multiple mainstream large language models, aiming to provide stable and accessible on-chain AI capabilities for developers and users. By lowering usage thresholds and costs, it allows AI tools to truly integrate into daily on-chain interactions, content generation, and data analysis scenarios, becoming "usable infrastructure" in the crypto world. This practice itself is the best interpretation of the long-termism that values "tool value over narrative speculation."

• How does DeFi traverse cycles? A deep analysis of the structural resilience of TRON's ecosystem

This emphasis on "tool value" and "endogenous demand" not only defines AI's role in the bear market but also constitutes the underlying philosophy of the DeFi ecosystem. TRON's DeFi system, with its continuous operation and real user retention, serves as a vivid example of "anti-cyclicality." Guests delved into this example, layer by layer, to dissect the key resilience logic within.

Crypto.0824 pointed out that the key for TRON's DeFi system to cross cycles lies in "low friction and real scene-driven" dynamics. He observed that many DeFi projects in bull markets essentially rely on high APY designs to attract liquidity, resembling a game of funds; once market sentiment recedes or incentives diminish, the entire system becomes unsustainable. In stark contrast, TRON's DeFi ecosystem is built around real and high-frequency on-chain demands such as stablecoin exchanges, staking, and lending. It does not rely on "incentive binding" for users but retains them by being the most practical and economical natural choice.

Wang FengAnc and OxPink further supplemented this critical dimension of user experience. They believe that TRON's DeFi can traverse cycles because it provides a "no-burden experience of opening to use, finishing to leave, but coming back repeatedly." It does not deliberately package complex financial models but focuses on serving a vast number of real on-chain behaviors, thereby solidifying the most robust user base.

Tian Tian supported the effectiveness of this structure with specific data: Even during market fatigue, TRON's protocol maintains stable profitability, with total protocol revenue exceeding $216 million in January alone, and its leading DeFi protocol JustLend DAO continues to maintain a stable TVL of about $6 billion, with lending rates consistently in a healthy range.

At the same time, TRON's ecosystem has not only been satisfied with financial resilience but has also given back its development achievements to the community through governance mechanisms. As of now, the governance token JST has completed two rounds of buyback and burn, with a cumulative burn amount exceeding 1 billion, accounting for 10.96% of the total supply. In addition, SUN.io has also established a mechanism to buy back and burn tokens from protocol revenue. As of now, the cumulative burn amount has exceeded 650 million SUN. These continuous value returns and deflationary practices not only strengthen the economic model of the tokens but also clearly demonstrate the ecosystem's determination to share long-term development value with the community.

From the protocol's sustained revenue capacity to the active value management of multiple tokens within the ecosystem, these facts collectively indicate that the ecosystem structure represented by TRON, which is rooted in real demand and possesses a closed-loop value return, not only demonstrates resilience against volatility in bear markets but also accumulates a solid value foundation at the underlying level, reserving ample elasticity for market recovery. Thus, it can be seen that the key to traversing cycles lies in constructing a structure like that practiced by TRON, which is rooted in real demand and possesses a value closed loop. This is not only a survival strategy in bear markets but also the fundamental logic for continuously creating value.