Theta is a decentralized video delivery network, powered by users and an innovative new blockchain. Theta is an open source protocol purpose-built to power the decentralized streaming network and will allow for vertical decentralized apps (DApps) to be built on top of the platform to enable esports, music, TV/movies, education, enterprise conferencing, peer-to-peer streaming, and more. SLIVER.tv’s DApp will be the first application built on the Theta network leveraging its existing user base of millions of esports viewers. DSN and the Theta protocol solve various challenges the video streaming industry faces today. First, Theta tokens are used as an incentive to encourage individual users to share their redundant memory and bandwidth resources as caching nodes for video streams. This improves the quality of stream delivery and solves the “last-mile” delivery problem, the main bottleneck for traditional stream delivery pipelines, especially for high resolution high bitrate 360° virtual reality (VR) streams. Second, with sufficient amount of caching nodes, the majority of viewers will pull streams from peering caching nodes. This significantly reduces content delivery network (CDN) bandwidth costs, which is a major concern for video streaming sites. Lastly, the Theta network greatly improves the streaming market efficiency by streamlining the video delivery process. For example, advertisers can target end viewers at a lower cost and reward influencers more transparently.The Theta blockchain introduces three novel concepts: Reputation Dependent Mining: In the Theta protocol, the caching nodes play the role of miners in the blockchain. The block reward is not a constant, but depends on the reputation score of the caching node that mined the block. To obtain more mining rewards, miners not only spend computation power to mine blocks, but also relay video streams to downstream viewers to increase their reputation scores. Global Reputation Consensus: We propose a mechanism for the Theta network to reach the global consensus on the reputation scores for each caching node. Proof-of-Engagement: We introduce a novel Proof-of-Engagement scheme to prove that viewers legitimately consume the video streams, providing better transparency to advertisers and a basis for viewers to earn Theta tokens for engaging with the content.
HYCON, which stands for Hyper-Connected Coin, is the digital asset built on top of a faster and more scalable blockchain developed by the Infinity Project team in Gangnam, Seoul. Using a DAG (Directed Acyclic Graph) structure, it has the capability to publish several blocks simultaneously with the ability to resolve conflicting transactions and reject double-spends through the SPECTRE consensus algorithm. This makes HYCON a next-generation cryptocurrency which can be used in the real economy. Honest transactions can be confirmed or rejected definitively in mere seconds, due to the high volume of blocks published within that time interval. Transactional throughput up to 3000Tps on a 2MB/s connection can be achieved as a starting point of the project. The DAG structure coupled with the SPECTRE protocol allows for network latency to be essentially removed as a limiting factor on transactional throughput. Blocks that are received out of order can still be ordered based on their implied position in the DAG rather than the time they were received. HYCON is Phase 1 of the Infinity Project Ecosystem and positioned for wide adoption as an efficient medium of exchanging value for enterprises, small businesses, governments, NGOs, and individuals. Together with the Infinity blockchain, HYCON will power the Infinity Platform (Phase 2) and Infinity Decentralized Exchange (Phase 3). The Infinity Platform will feature a simple and intuitive user interface to empower anyone with the ability to create their own customized and private Infinity blockchain. For example, enterprise solutions built upon the Infinity Platform will help increase accountability, enhance transparency, and improve data security, thus bringing value to companies and society.