BitTorrent (BTT): How TRON Turned a File-Sharing Icon Into a Token
TRON’s 2018 takeover, seeding rewards, storage and BTTC
BitTorrent Token (BTT) was launched in 2019 by TRON, which had bought the company behind the famous file-sharing software BitTorrent. It was designed to reward people who share files and to power a decentralised storage service and a cross-chain network.
1. BitTorrent and TRON
BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer file-sharing method created by programmer Bram Cohen in 2001: files are downloaded in pieces from many users’ computers rather than one server. The company BitTorrent Inc. built well-known clients on it, including BitTorrent and µTorrent. At one time the technology carried a large share of all internet traffic.
In 2018 TRON founder Justin Sun acquired the company, which was later renamed Rainberry. In January 2019 BTT was sold on Binance Launchpad, the platform’s first token sale that year. On the Crypto Nation map, BTT stands in TRON City, because it was first issued on TRON.
2. What BTT is used for
Its first use was BitTorrent Speed: downloaders pay BTT to get files faster, and seeders, those who share files, earn that BTT. It was an attempt to use rewards against the old problem of people who download but never share, and it was built into the BitTorrent and µTorrent clients.
Later came BTFS (BitTorrent File System), a decentralised storage service that spreads files across many computers, and BitTorrent Chain (BTTC), a cross-chain network linking TRON, Ethereum and BNB Chain. BTT rewards people who rent out storage on BTFS, pays fees on BTTC and is staked there by validators. Spreading copies is meant to keep files available even if one machine goes offline.
3. Milestones
In December 2021 BTT was redenominated: each old BTT became 1,000 new BTT, and the token moved to TRON’s TRC-20 standard. BitTorrent Chain launched around the same time, and total supply was set at 990 trillion; only the units changed, not each holder’s share of the total.
BTT is one of the best-known tokens of the TRON ecosystem and is widely used in TRON wallets and decentralised exchanges. The BitTorrent software itself still has many users, but most of them do not use BTT, a gap between the technology’s fame and the token’s real use that is often noted.
4. Things to know
In March 2023 the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Justin Sun, the TRON Foundation, the BitTorrent Foundation and Rainberry, alleging unregistered sales of TRX and BTT and inflated trading volumes. Sun denied the claims, and in early 2025 both sides asked the court to pause the case while they explored a resolution.
Because issuance and operations are concentrated in organisations tied to TRON and Justin Sun, BTT is criticised as weakly decentralised. Its enormous supply, and the unclear link between actual service use and demand for the token, are also worth knowing.
Written from information public up to October 2026. It does not recommend or rate any coin and is not investment advice. If something is wrong, please tell us through the contact page.