Theta Labs, creator of a video delivery network powered by blockchain technology, has announced the launch of the Theta Edgecast beta, delivering true end-to-end decentralization for users, content creators, and video platforms.
The launch is the culmination of Theta’s vision to bring to market a completely decentralized video platform that rewards users, lowers the cost of using a content delivery network and ultimately gives content creators the freedom to choose a fully distributed platform to build their businesses upon.
“We’re thrilled to offer our 24/7 WPT content to the THETA Edgecast as part of their exciting new product launch”, said Adam Pliska, World Poker Tour CEO. “Users can now watch WPT over the first fully decentralized video network built on blockchain.”
Mitch Liu, co-founder and CEO of Theta Labs, said that building a fully decentralized platform had been a core tenet of Theta since its 2017 launch, and the business was now in a position to bring the platform into use for everyone.
“In essence, we’re giving people a preview of the future, and an opportunity to experiment with it today,” he said.
“Our core thesis was to build a fully decentralized video infrastructure that would drive more benefit to each key stakeholder in the video streaming value chain. We believe content creators and consumers should have the choice to use whichever video platform they feel they benefit the most from.”
Edgecast is a decentralized application (dapp) that is built entirely on Theta’s peer-to-peer video blockchain technology and powered by Theta edge network. The network today consists of over 2,000 edge nodes around the globe.
The dapp features the ability to capture video, transcode it in real-time, cache it and relay to users globally, all through the entirely decentralized Theta Edge Network.
Mitch Liu said: “Unlike other video platforms this means Edgecast does not feature a single centralized server or service. This is a huge accomplishment and a huge challenge – we hope this open beta will give you an opportunity to try it and provide us with valuable feedback to further improve.”
Theta’s vision is for decentralization to become a key design element for all video and entertainment businesses.
As the service expands from computers and mobile devices to tablets, smart TVs, and other smart devices powered by 5G networks, all of these connected devices will have a way to efficiently relay video and other data between them, without a centralized entity directing the network.
Such a system of millions of devices is too complex to be governed by a single top-down entity. Instead, Theta is creating the infrastructure, a set of rules and incentives, so all devices can self-organize in a way that benefits everyone on the network.
THETA.tv aims to be a great home for esports streamers, blockchain content creators like Chico Crypto, Data Dash, and a home for marquee brand partners like MGM Studios, NASA, World Poker Tour, and CONtv Anime.
