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What is TRB?

TRB, also called Tellor Tributes, is the working token of Tellor, one of the oldest decentralized oracle protocols. Tellor puts data such as asset prices on-chain without a whitelisted operator set: anyone who stakes TRB can report, and anyone can challenge a report they believe is wrong. The token launched with the protocol in 2019 with no ICO and no premine.

Tellor began as a proof-of-work oracle on Ethereum, moved to staked reporters with its Tellor 360 upgrade, and in August 2025 launched Tellor Layer, a purpose-built proof-of-stake chain for the oracle. The ERC-20 contract on Ethereum remains the token traders hold, and a bridge connects it to the new chain.

How TRB works

Data flows through a report-then-challenge cycle. Users fund requests by tipping TRB toward specific queries, staked reporters fetch and submit values, and the protocol aggregates submissions by median so one bad answer cannot set the price. A set of popular feeds, which Tellor calls enshrined feeds, is reported continuously without per-request tips.

Reported values sit in a challenge window. Anyone can open a dispute by paying a TRB fee scaled to the severity of the offense, from 1% of the reporter's bonded stake for a warning up to the full bond for a major offense, and TRB-weighted voting settles the dispute over a 48-hour vote with a 24-hour challenge period, slashing the losing side. On Tellor Layer, a light client bridge relays settled data back to Ethereum and other EVM networks.

TRB supply and tokenomics

TRB has no fixed supply cap. New tokens are minted as time-based rewards, split 75% to data reporters and 25% to validators on Tellor Layer, and a development share of issuance funds the team, a model the protocol has used since its proof-of-work days. Issuance is the protocol's security budget: it pays the people who keep data flowing and honest.

The absolute numbers are small. The token launched with zero premine, the supply has grown only through rewards since 2019, and the total remains in the low millions of TRB as of mid-2026. That thin float cuts both ways: dilution is slow, but the market has far less depth than the large-cap tokens it is often compared with.

Who builds TRB

Tellor was founded in 2019 by Brenda Loya, Nick Fett and Michael Zemrose, who had previously worked together on the derivatives project Daxia. Tellor Inc, the company they run, stewards development and is funded through the protocol's development share rather than a founding token allocation, a model in which the team earns only while the protocol operates. Early backers included Binance Labs.

What people use TRB for

TRB is used on both sides of the oracle market and in its policing, and every role involves putting tokens at stake rather than just holding them.

• Stake TRB, or delegate it to a validator or reporter, to earn a share of time-based rewards.
• Tip TRB to bring a new data feed on-chain or to speed up an existing one.
• Open or vote on disputes that decide whether a reported value was honest.
• Pay for activity on Tellor Layer, where TRB is the native currency.

TRB risks and considerations

Tellor's security is economic, not institutional. If the value staked behind reports is small relative to what an attacker could gain by corrupting a price feed, users of that data carry the gap, and disputes only work when honest token holders actually show up to vote. The uncapped supply also means rewards dilute holders who do not participate.

TRB's small float makes it prone to sharp, liquidity-driven price swings, and its trading history includes episodes that moved much faster than protocol usage. The 2025 move to Tellor Layer adds transition risk on top: rewards now live on the new chain, so stakers and integrations depend on the bridge and on a young network maturing safely.