It seemed easy enough to do in the digital age. But, things turned complicated when Sun blamed a glitch in the selection process. Tucky winner identified as @uzgaroth was offered a free ticket to 2020 TRON instead.

Allegedly, the team at TRON used a “Tweet randomizer tool” to choose the winner. As a result, they were not familiar enough with how it worked to ensure a fair result.

Two Teslas are better than one

Sun attempted to duck the media backlash. In fact, he came up with an enhanced offer of two Teslas. Consequently, the hunt was on for a second winner. This time, the company used a selection system that has been tested in China on the microblogging social media platform Weibo.

“I’ve happily decided to give away two Teslas to further my mission of creating transparency, reliability and openness about blockchain,” Sun announced on Medium.

“We’ve reached out to both contestants, including the second winner in Vietnam, a user called @LeoHuynhPro, and will update if we hear back,” he added.

However, the confusion led to people expressing their anger about the promotion. For instance, some criticised the process for not being live-streamed. Granted, this would have allowed for more fairness in the process.

Obviously, two Teslas are better than one. Still, the Tesla debacle has highlighted that in the cryptocurrency industry, companies sometimes use a hard sell disguised as a freebie. Certainly, there are now more than 1,650 cryptocurrencies operating in an increasingly crowded field. In the future, many new cryptos may need to resort to traditional marketing tactics to ensure their place in the market.

Waves launches Lada "Nivaway"

The latest news is that Sun is getting trolled over the promotion. Sasha Ivanov, CEO of Russian-based dApp and ICO platform Waves has organised a ‘Lada Nivaway’. They are offering a chance to win a Lada Niva cross-country vehicle.

Givaway particiants must retweet @Wavesplatform and say why Lada Niva is the new Tesla. The winner will be chosen on April 12th 2019. So far, only one Lada in offered for the Nivaway. Additionally, there is no mention of a cash airdrop.

Promoting transparency in Blockchain

In Sun’s original tweet on 12 March, the car offer was touted as justy the beginning. The goal was to further the “transparency, reliability and openness of blockchain”. At the time, he added that he was planning to give away $20 million in a cash airdrop.

The promotions are apparently his own initiative and are not linked to TRON or BitTorrent. His aim appears to be to give Twitter followers a chance to win a free car and catch some money.

Sun has previously made other money-for-nothing offers. These have also been subject to a backlash as well. For example, in December 2018, TRON Accelerator sponsored a hackathon for the TRON Foundation. They offered cash rewards amounting to $1 Million to the top 56 teams. In the end, they decided to award less money to more teams.

Reportedly, the standard among participants was so high that rewarding just 56 hackathon teams with free cash was not enough. That said, TRON defended Sun and said that he had increased the jackpot for the event. In addition, he was being transparent about why the rules had suddenly changed.

TRON itself has claimed that the promotions are intended to “grow interest” in the industry. However, Justin Sun is the primary financial backer of TRON. In 2017, TRON raised $70 Million in token sales. On top of that, the BitTorrent sale raised $7.2 Million earlier this year. The company insists that Justin Sun funds all giveaway promotions with his own money.

Hackathon participants angry with rule changes

Despite Sun’s intention to improve transparency, reliability and openness in the industry, his self-funded promotions appear to be having the opposite effect. Many participants in the hackathon were disappointed and complained that their submissions were not fully considered. As well, others alleged that they did not receive all of the prize money TRON promised.

In January 2019, TRON announced that the $1 Million on prize money had been given away and shared among 113 contestants. They claimed this was twice as many as originally promised. Unfortunately, they failed to mention the rule changes and how these affected the number of awards given to winners.

Even so, Sun’s spokesperson at TRON insists that Justin Sun’s objective is to be transparent, generous, and ultimately, to achieve “broader outreach” for the company. “This is Justin setting the rules for these things. This is Justin’s money, not TRON or BitTorrent.”, they said.

The recent example of Sun’s mismanaged generosity, together with the story of the two Teslas, is now all over the Internet. In fact, the company has achieved its objective to get broader visibility. Still, the fallout does raise questions about whether promotions like free cars and cash drops actually help the industry.

TRON success means investing in future contests

Despite everything, there is good news for Justin Sun. In the future, TRON itself may invest funds in hackathons, freebies and airdropathons. Recently, the company was ranked among the Top 4 cryptos for one-year growth in daily user transactions.

Weiss Ratings reported that its daily user transactions have gone from 3,000 in 2018 to 1.9 Million in March 2019. Whether the two Teslas ever found their owners remains unclear. But, at least TRON is finding its way.

CCN.com also reports that Sun himself may be suffering from burnout. In fact, he publicly claimed that he works 50 weeks a year and 80 hours a week. Apparently, he plans to do this for the next 50 years. This would mean he plans to retire at the age of 80.

Sun offered an apology over the Tesla promo debacle and hinted that TRON and its team are still finding their feet. Admittedly, he himself is living up to his self-appointed image as a workaholic. He spends several hours a day thinking of ways “to show how blockchain and the newly launched TRON stablecoin will be a game-changer for both consumers and businesses”.

“We will more than likely have a few setbacks along the way,” he added. Yet, as Sun puts it himself, “Crypto never sleeps.” That said, hopefully both Sun and the two Tesla winners will manage to sleep peacefully once the new cars have been delivered.

Tron image licensed via Shutterstock