Blockchain startup TRON has announced the acquisition of San Francisco-based P2P file sharing company BitTorrent.
TRON, which has offices in both Beijing and San Francisco, reportedly paid USD$126 million in cash for the acquisition, with the total transaction sum reaching $140 million.
TRON bills itself as a provider of one of the largest blockchain-based operating systems in the world, and has the goal of establishing “a truly decentralised internet and its infrastructure.”
The company launched its open source protocol in December 2017, and its TestNet, Blockchain Explorer and Web Wallet in March of this year.
According to the company’s official website many of its technical experts were recruited from Chinese internet giants such as Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent, while founder and CEO Justin Sun is former Ripple employee.
First launched in 2001, BitTorrent is one of the most common protocols for transferring large files over the internet via P2P sharing, and is estimated to have as many as a quarter of a billion monthly users.
Following the acquisition BitTorrent will operate out of TRON’s new San Francisco location, which serves as the base for the company’s overseas expansion plans.
“The BitTorrent acquisition embodies TRON’s ‘All-In-Decentralization’ strategy,” said Justin Sun. “TRON and BitTorrent share the same vision for a decentralised web.
“I believe BitTorrent will gain new life from integrating into the TRON ecosystem, and TRON will continue BitTorrent’s protocol legacy.”
