The TRON Virtual Machine (TVM) was originally forked from the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). TVM was specifically created to minimize resource use and ensure a robust system. This optimized virtual framework allows developers to easily access the TRON blockchain network at a low cost with its built-in energy mechanism — which accounts for transactions that do not charge TRX when executing operations. This systematic mechanism ensures several benefits: it helps prevent attacks on the platform, reduces the costs of application development, and lowers the resource costs of the platform itself.
The TVM is designed to be user-friendly and provide a convenient interface as a single point of focus for smart contract development and execution. On the Ethereum blockchain, each transaction costs a gas fee, and there is a maximum quota of gas that can be spent per block. If a new block on the chain exceeds this maximum threshold, it’s rejected. But, if an attacker somehow includes excess transactions into a newly forming block, they can effectively prevent a block from being added. In contrast, with TRON’s TVM, every transaction expends energy and bandwidth points. Instead of a globalized or cumulative threshold, each account is separately tabulated.
As a result, every account must purchase energy, and is allotted 5,000 bandwidth points per day. If an account exhausts these points, it must freeze its tokens for at least three days to generate more. It’s also possible for an account to hold insufficient bandwidth points or energy. When this happens, the system will consume the Tron coin in their account to make up for the discrepancy. By shifting transaction costs from a cumulative global model to an account-specific system, the TRON blockchain (unlike Ethereum) reduces the likelihood of attack via Denial-ofService (DoS) methods.
TRON gives its users three options for conducting shielded transactions with TRC-20 tokens. The first option allows participants to use a standard TRC-20 token and convert it to shielded form, which is called a “mint” transaction on the network. Second, users can leverage the shielded version of a token to transform it into standard form via the “burn” option. Lastly, users can move money between accounts via the “transfer” function. This option hides the identities of the buyer and seller, as well as the amount being transferred. Transactions on the TRON blockchain network have many advantages.
Third parties can verify transactions of any size, and transaction data is saved on the blockchain using advanced encryption techniques. TRON’s extensive shielded transaction features are a powerful set of tools, but on top of this, TRON is also focused on maintaining a globally adaptable blockchain paradigm. Therefore, the TRX token will not allow for anonymous or shielded transactions. A significant milestone for TRON 4.0 is the introduction of a new two-layer consensus mechanism that increases the power of the TRON blockchain exponentially. Specifically, it reduces block confirmation times from an average of 57 seconds down to just three seconds — making the TRON blockchain one of the fastest of the top 25 major cryptocurrency networks.