Did Tron Mislead Investors by Claiming Partnership With Baidu?

On October 15, a trusted cryptocurrency source in China reported that the partnership Tron secured with Baidu was not really a partnership.

CnLedger reported that according to local publications, Tron acquired the services of Baidu to launch, build, operate, and debug blockchain-based products on Baidu Cloud.

“The ‘partnership’ between Baidu and Tron is basically about Tron buying cloud computing resources from Baidu. ‘The two parties have made no contact at the blockchain business level.’ According to the ODaily, recently, Baidu Cloud and Tron have reached cooperation in the field of basic cloud business. Tron will build, operate and debug blockchain products based on Baidu Cloud in order to ensure compatibility and optimize development experience.”

Experts Comment

Tron is a client of Baidu Cloud that compensates the China-based Internet conglomerate to utilize its cloud computing infrastructure. Hence, it is not appropriate for Tron to claim that it has secured a formal partnership with Baidu.

For instance, ICON, South Korea’s most valuable blockchain project, signed an MoU with LINE, the biggest messaging app in Japan, to develop blockchain apps and integrate decentralized systems for the Japanese conglomerate. Such a relationship is considered a partnership because both parties benefit from it.

Ari Paul, the co-founder of Blocktower and a prominent cryptocurrency investor, wrote:

“Assuming the below is accurate, this deserves to be called out as misleading marketing. If I buy a computer with Microsoft Windows installed, I should not claim to have partnered with Microsoft without clarifying the limited nature of the ‘partnership.’”

Last month, the government of Australia and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation launched the “Red Belly Blockchain” on the Amazon cloud computing network.

“AWS Cloud provides innovative organisations of all kinds with a global network of compute power, allowing organisations like Red Belly Blockchain to quickly conduct large-scale experiments that break new ground,” Simon Elisha, Head of Solutions Architecture, Amazon Web Services Public Sector, Australia and New Zealand, said.

The CSIRO and the government of Australia directly collaborated with AWS Australia and New Zealand to test the Red Belly Blockchain and still, the Red Belly development team did not claim it had partnered with AWS as it merely obtained the services of Amazon.

Cryptocurrency analyst Boxmining further emphasized that Baidu operates its own blockchain network called Xuperchain and as such, it does not have strong motivation to rely on the blockchain protocol of external projects.

“Tron partnership is equivalent to buying cloud services and not ‘blockchain business level.’ What do expect when Baidu has their own chain ‘Xuperchain?’ Thanks to CnLedger for getting this to light.”

Which Part Was Misleading?

The Tron Foundation did not formally announce its “partnership” with Baidu. But, Justin Sun, the founder and CEO of Tron, wrote to the investors of Tron that for the first time in the company’s history, it partnered with an industry giant.

“Finally, First time to partner with tens of billions USD valuation industry giant. Guess the name.”

For transparency, it is important for blockchain projects to explicitly describe the intricacies of the partnerships they engage in, as misleading investors to purchase cryptocurrencies could be considered as a dishonest activity that could hinder the reputation of projects.

Images from Shutterstock

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