Theta Labs, a startup backed by YouTube co-founder Steven Chen, is building a video network that pays people for sharing bandwidth. The platform uses blockchain technology and a native cryptocurrency
Theta Labs, a startup backed by YouTube co-founder Steven Chen, is building a video network that pays people for sharing bandwidth. The platform uses blockchain technology and a native cryptocurrency to reward users who cache and relay video streams to others.
The company wants to solve three problems plaguing the current video industry: streams that drop quality or freeze entirely, the enormous costs of delivering content worldwide, and the fact that creators see little of the money. Today's video networks rely on Points-of-Presence, or POPs, which are data centers positioned near viewers. These are expensive to build and maintain, scarce in most regions, and absent from less economically developed areas. Without them, viewers get choppy playback and frequent buffering.
"One of our biggest challenges had been the high costs of delivering video to various parts of the world, and this problem is only getting bigger with HD, 4K and higher quality video streams," Chen said. He compared the potential impact to YouTube's disruption of traditional television in 2005.
Theta Labs operates as a subsidiary of SLIVER.tv, a leading virtual reality live streaming company. The team is developing the Theta protocol, an open-source framework that lets users contribute unused computer resources to relay video across the network. In exchange, they earn Theta tokens. Other developers can build applications on the protocol for esports, music, television and film, education, enterprise conferencing, and peer-to-peer streaming.
Mitch Liu, Theta Labs CEO, said the model benefits everyone involved. "We've been on the cutting edge of live streaming technology and by leveraging blockchain we will truly be able to transform the video and entertainment industry," he said. The protocol lets end-users "contribute their excess PC bandwidth and resources to relay video streams to others and earn Theta tokens at the same time. It's a win-win for all stakeholders in the ecosystem."
SLIVER.tv will launch the first application on Theta's network. In December, the company plans to roll out ERC20-compliant Theta tokens on its platform for virtual gifting and to incentivize streamers. Advertisers and brand sponsors can use the tokens to fund campaigns and support content creators. When Theta launches its own blockchain in the fourth quarter of 2018, users will exchange these ERC20 tokens one-to-one for native Theta tokens.
