Tron founder Justin Sun has led the tributes from the cryptocurrency community to basketball icon Kobe Bryant, who was killed in a helicopter crash yesterday.

The pair are understood to have developed a friendship through Tron events attended by the 41-year-old NBA star.

Bryant, who was killed instantly along with 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others when their helicopter slammed into the ground, was a keen advocate of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology.

He was a guest speaker a little over a year ago alongside Sun at the niTROn Summit in San Francisco.

Taking to Twitter, Sun said it had been a great honour to meet the five-time NBA champion.

“I’ll forever remember us discussing the future of blockchain,” he said, adding that the next niTROn Summit would hold a minute’s silence out of respect.

The aircraft – a privately chartered Sikorsky S-76B – came down in fields near the Californian city of Calabasas where it burst into flames. The LA County Sheriff’s spokesman said there were no survivors.

An eyewitness – Gavin Masak – told CBS News about what he saw and heard.

“It wasn’t exactly like an explosion sound but it was like a loud boom,” he explained.

“It was a helicopter, but it sounded like a jet, like it was loud, so I went inside and told my dad what was happening.

“So when I came out I saw smoke on the hill but it wasn’t like a big, black cloud of smoke, it was just grey.”

Other witnesses claimed the helicopter sounded like it was having difficulty with its engine in the seconds before the impact.

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