Now then, is there truly someone in this world who, every time they turn the faucet of their water, bows their head and says to the water pipes, “Thank you, as always”? There certainly is not. Infrastructure, you see, is considered “complete” the moment it becomes unnoticed by anyone’s eyes.
The time is the Reiwa era, and the place is the world of crypto assets. Right now, there is a single network that is just about to reach that very frontier. It is called TRON! Transactions approaching 100 million per week, and up to as much as $190 billion in transfers per week—yet the fee is only 7 cents. What these numbers tell us is that a major change is underway: the flow of money around the world is being rewritten—quietly, but surely.
If we say it’s 100 million transactions per week—then on an average day that’s roughly 14 million. Per second, that’s about 165. In the time it takes the second hand on a clock to move forward by one tick, that’s 165 transactions. As for the stablecoins flowing during the same week, it’s between $150 billion and $190 billion. It matches perfectly with the figure that TRON DAO revealed in late September: “USDT transfers year-to-date average about $25 billion per day.”
Now, this is the crucial part. While transactions are rewriting the records, the average fee has fallen to around 7 cents—down into the lowest range in recent years. The more traffic there is, the more charges rise—that’s the opposite of what we see here, unlike ordinary toll roads. Weekly active addresses are also pressing toward an all-time high. This isn’t because a handful of big players are sending funds back and forth. It’s the best evidence that countless nameless people are using it in their day-to-day lives.
So why do dollars around the world all flow through TRON?
The star of the show is Tether’s USDT. USDT on TRON is about $89 billion by the end of Q2 2026, and in September it even breaks through the $94 billion mark! Among the countless blockchains, it proudly holds the largest scale. In the same quarter, TRON settled stablecoins totaling about $2.1 trillion—exceeding 1 billion transactions in count. Can you believe it?
The reason is as simple and plain as it gets: it’s cheap and it’s fast. According to the World Bank, the cost of international remittances averages about 6.4% of the transfer amount worldwide. If you try to send $200 to your family waiting in a faraway home, then—oops—about $13 disappears into fees. But with TRON, it’s just 7 cents. What quietly supports this speed and low cost is DPoS: a system in which 27 Super Representatives, chosen by TRX holders’ votes, generate the blocks.
But the main story isn’t about technology. It’s about how you choose strategy. TRON was born with the banner of decentralizing content delivery. These days, instead of staking a claim in the battle for DeFi supremacy, it has chosen to focus purely on being a “dollar transfer rail.” The bandwidth and energy used with every transaction are covered by TRX staking and burning. So the more it’s used, the more those benefits flow back into TRX’s economic ecosystem. It doesn’t take the spotlight; instead, it quietly lays pipes beneath the stage floor. That commitment—the one move that creates the thickest stream right now.
Now, let’s go back and rewind a bit.
In English, plumbing is what we call pipes and pipe systems—but its origin is the Latin word “plumbum,” meaning lead. That’s because ancient Roman aqueduct pipes were made of lead. If you call TRON a “plumbing” system, then you can hardly compare it to anything other than that famous “Roman aqueduct.”
Time: 312 BC. The censor Appius Claudius draws the first Roman aqueduct—the “Appian Aqueduct”! And in the same year, this same man even got involved in the construction of the Appian Way. Transport people and goods by road, and transport water by aqueduct. Rome’s dominance effectively began with these two circulation networks.
Soon, the aqueducts multiplied—one, then another—until there were 11. They richly supplied even great cities said to have a population of a million. And there was no need for any power source at all. Only a slight gradient, and gravity—nothing more. Water kept flowing day and night without rest, carried from water sources dozens of kilometers away. Citizens could fill water freely from basins at street corners. Since the effort of transporting was close to zero, water reached every corner of the city. Doesn’t that align beautifully with TRON, where 100 million transactions flow per week for a 7-cent fee!
Go back to the year 97 AD. Frontinus, who had been entrusted with the major role of superintendent of waterworks by Emperor Nerva, proudly declared in his book, Treatise on Aqueducts: compare this kind of structure—indispensable, carrying so much water—with useless pyramids or so-called high-class Greek architecture. Pyramids are merely something to look at; aqueducts are made to be used. The Romans took pride in that fact.
There’s more to Frontinus’s accomplishments. He uncovered the wrongdoing of “theft of water,” where people secretly drilled holes in aqueduct pipes to siphon water, and he corrected the discrepancies between the ledgers and the actual volumes. Large pipe systems can only maintain reliability with proper guarding and maintenance. And what TRON is pushing forward with T3 FCU—partnering with Tether and TRM Labs to freeze illicit funds—is, in effect, a modern-day campaign against water thieves.
Moreover, Rome drew water from multiple sources to prepare for times of drought. TRON, too, on September 11, welcomed Ethena’s USDe—making a major step from a “single-source” reliance on USDT toward “diversification of water sources.”
Now, we’re finally at the climax.
In 19 BC, the Virgo Aqueduct built by Agrippa continues to this day, more than 2,000 years later, sending water to the Trevi Fountain in Rome. Tourists toss coins over their shoulders, but hardly anyone stops to wonder where that water actually comes from.
Truly strong infrastructure is something that keeps flowing even after its name has been forgotten. So the next time you send USDT, picture—far in the depths of your screen—the Roman aqueduct bridge from 2,000 years ago. Those 100 million transactions per week are, in other words, “the sound of flowing water echoing through the digital world.”
That’s all for tonight’s session of TRON, “the digital dollar’s aqueduct.” The rest continues next time’s lecture.