While nowadays, it is mostly known as a means for piracy, it is important to remember that BitTorrent is also one of the most recognizable brands in the fields of decentralized computing and peer-to-peer networking. More than a month ago, it was alleged that BitTorrent had been acquired by blockchain startup, TRON. While the company didn"t confirm this at the time, it has now done so in a new blog post.
Noting that it has over 100 million users across various platforms on mobile and desktop, BitTorrent finally announced that it has been acquired by TRON. While details weren"t mentioned, the company did say that:
With this acquisition, BitTorrent will continue to provide high quality services for over 100M users around the world. We believe that joining the TRON network will further enhance BitTorrent and accelerate our mission of creating an Internet of options, not rules.
The firm will continue to operate from TRON"s new central office in San Francisco, providing support for the latter"s global business growth and development.
Meanwhile, Justin Sun, founder and CEO of TRON has also shed some light on the acquisition, saying that:
Through this acquisition, BitTorrent and TRON will combine forces, with the TRON US team merging with the BitTorrent team. BitTorrent possesses world-class technical talent and solid experience in decentralized protocol technology. Combining the robust capabilities of the two teams will take the technology behind the TRON ecosystem to a whole new level.
Apart from the aforementioned, arguably vague, details, it"s currently unknown exactly how the two companies will integrate to accelerate their business. Furthermore, the acquisition sum is still unknown too, although previous rumors pegged it at $140 million.
Source: BitTorrent, TRON via TorrentFreak