The Tron Foundation will dedicate its 2020 niTROn Summit to Kobe Bryant, an American NBA superstar who died in a helicopter crash on Sunday.

Bryant, a "fellow member of the Tron Family unit" who is known for participating in Tron'southward events, died at age 41 in a helicopter crash nearly Los Angeles along with his 13-year-former daughter on January. 26.

Post-obit the tragic news, the Tron Foundation announced that the upcoming niTROn Summit, a major Tron-hosted outcome that will be held from Feb. 29 to March one in Seoul, will be devoted to Bryant.

Bryant discussed the future of blockchain at a previous outcome

Announcing the news in a tweet on Jan. 26, Tron fastened a picture of the deceased basketball fable with Tron founder and CEO Justin Sunday at a previous niTROn consequence held in San Francisco in January 2019.

In a separate tweet, Dominicus expressed his condolences, noting that it was 1 of his life's greatest honors to come across Bryant at the consequence:

"Kobe, was great to accept met you in niTROn 2019. Mtg yous was one of my life'southward greatest award & privilege, I'll forever remember us on stage discussing the futurity of blockchain. We'll have a moment of silence in your award during niTROn 2020. R.I.P."

Crypto community gets cynical

Sun, who has been spotted in the media as a "main of hype" and criticized for "announcing an announcement for an announcement," has been lambasted by the online crypto customs for supposedly using Bryant's name to promote his event.

A number of crypto commentators on Twitter were outraged by the Tron Foundation and Sun's reaction to the tragic loss, accusing them of using someone'south death for their ain gains:

"@justinsuntron at it again, using [someone'southward] death for his own gains."

Other's defended what they perceived to be an honest gesture of respect and condolence on behalf of the Tron community. I person tweeted, "I think negative commenters are sick and @justinsuntron has given a great tribute to #KobeBryant."

Every bit previously reported by Cointelegraph, the basketball champion was invited to the Tron conference in 2019 as a special invitee to "share his thoughts and life experience to inspire young leaders and entrepreneurs."

Earlier today, Cointelegraph reported on former BitTorrent employees suing Sun for alleged labor violations and harassment. The ex-employees at BitTorrent, the peer-to-peer torrent customer acquired by Tron in 2018, are seeking $15 million in damages against Sunday, accusing his company of wrongful termination, racial discrimination, a hostile work environs, and others infractions.