Decentralizing and incentivizing video streaming
At a high level, Sliver.tv and its associated token Theta are designed to solve the “last-mile” delivery problem for large scale content delivery systems.
As initially deployed, they will be used to build out a global decentralized platform for high quality gaming videos and streams.
Using blockchain and its Theta token, Sliver.tv is building a decentralized platform for high quality gaming videos and streams
Indeed, Sliver.tv is currently live with its Watch & Win esports platform, which uses the Theta token to reward activity on the network.
Over 1 billion of the ERC-20-compliant tokens have been circulated, with over 4 million web and mobile visitors recorded during January, up 4-fold over its August rankings.
To-date, Sliver.tv focuses on CS:GO and PUBG and also broadcasts in 360 degrees to support VR devices such as Oculus Rift and Vive. The company has a number of patents related to 360 degree video streams.
Indeed, handling this sort of content was the original goal of the company, which was founded in 2015, initially raising $36 million from investors including Danhua Capital, DCM, Sierra Ventures, CAA, Gree, Colopl, Samsung Next and Sony Innovation.
It raised another $20 million from a private sale of Theta tokens in February 2018, although current Theta tokens won’t be exchanged for native Theta tokens until the blockchain launches in late 2018.
Flexible approach
In terms of the video network Sliver.tv is building, it’s a decentralized peer-to-peer video streaming platform that can handle both on-demand and live streaming at high quality and with low latency.
Sliver.tv expects Theta will tie together the various stakeholder goals in its video streaming platform
Key elements are the ingest nodes, which transcode video streams, and caching nodes which relay the streams to end viewers. Individual users will be able to perform both tasks using Sliver.tv’s proprietary software.
Obviously creating such a network will require a lot of users, so in the meantime Sliver.tv proposes a hybrid architecture which will combine some elements of existing technology, with decentralized caching nodes. As more nodes are added, eventually the centralized servers can be phased out.
Power of the token
Of course, this being a blockchain network, users running cache nodes also mine Theta tokens by validating the blockchain’s transactions and create new blocks. The more video streams a cache node conducts, the higher its mining rewards.
As well as this utility, Theta tokens will grow and fund activity in the overall Sliver.tv community. For example, it can be used by advertisers to attract streamers and viewers, while in-turn viewers can gift Theta to their favorite streamers.
Viewer will earn Theta through a Proof of Engagement process in which viewers’ computers solve a cryptographic puzzle – effectively a mining process but one not associated with the Theta blockchain – while they are watching the video stream.
For all the reasons, Sliver.tv expects Theta will tie together the various goals of the stakeholders in its game streaming platform in a transparent and efficient manner.
Sliver.tv’s Watch & Win esports platform is currently live for web and app, and the launch of its native platform and the native Theta token, is expected in late 2018.