Livepeer
Livepeer is a streaming protocol that doesn't have a central server. It can stream both live and on-demand videos. Livepeer gives developers the back-end video transcoding and distribution infrastructure they need to build apps. Livepeer is not a video streaming service, and it doesn't have a website or app where people can watch videos. Livepeer is less like Netflix and more like Amazon Web Service (AWS), which handles all of Netflix's databases, storage, and video transcoding.
Doug Petkanics and Eric Tang started Livepeer Inc., the legal entity that runs Livepeer. Doug Petkanics is a computer scientist who has worked with big companies like Groupon and Wildcard. In 2006, he started working as an analyst for Accenture. In 2010, he co-founded Hyperpublic, which was later bought by Groupon. Before taking the lead in developing Livepeer in 2016, Petkanics also started a platform for publishing and a web browser. Eric Tang is an electrical engineer and computer scientist who worked as a software developer at Next Jump in 2008. He was also a product manager for Clickable before he joined forces with Doug Petkanics to work on Hyperpublic, Wildcard, and their ongoing project Livepeer, which came out in 2017.
The video streaming industry is very big. It has players like YouTube, Twitch, Zoom, Google Meet, and others. But the industry faces a problem that isn't so obvious to customers.
"Video transcoding" is the problem, and it makes it very hard for new people to get into the video streaming industry. As stated above, transcoding is the process of changing a raw video file and reformatting it for various devices and different quality. This step is taken to make sure that everyone can watch the video.
Transcoding is a very expensive and complicated process that requires a lot of computational power. Livepeer says that this process costs about $3 per stream per hour to a cloud service like Amazon, which adds up to $4,500 per month for one media server. To cover expenses, video streaming sites frequently display advertisements or sell data.
Livepeer was developed to eliminate the high price of video transcoding and make the market more accessible for new companies.
Orchestrators do the work needed to convert the video into the desired output formats. Broadcasters pay them in ETH, and the Livepeer Network rewards them with newly mined LPT tokens.
Transcoders perform the basic task of converting an input video segment into the desired output format. Orchestrators can operate many transcoders at the same time.
Broadcasters publish a stream and compensate orchestrators with ETH for their services.
Delegators place their tokens through another party. If a holder of LPT doesn't have the technology to participate directly as an orchestrator, the holder can give its coins to an orchestrator to earn a share of the rewards.
LPT is an ERC-20 token that acts as the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum-based Livepeer Network. The Livepeer ecosystem uses the LPT token as a "work token." This indicates that the LPT tokens are utilized as collateral by orchestrator nodes that offer work to the Livepeer ecosystem. Orchestrators use LPT as collateral and are paid for their work on the network with ETH and newly created LPT. If their work doesn't meet certain standards, they lose the LPT that they have staked. The more LPT an orchestrator stakes, the more work that orchestrator can do for the network and earn fees.
DATE | NEWS/EVENTS | IMPACT |
07/05/2022 | TerraUSD and LUNA both collapsed and as a result, a number of crypto platforms folded in the aftermath | -34% Decrease |
04/11/2021 | The protocol co-hosted the COLLIDE event with the Glass streaming platform, the first-ever live concert to include live minting of video non-fungible tokens (NFT) | +150% Increase |
29/07/2021 | Decentralized video protocol Livepeer raises $20 million to take on streaming giants | +36% Increase |
24/03/2021 | Grayscale Investments' announcement of new product offerings boosted Livepeer | +270% Increase |
19/06/2019 | Livepeer, a decentralized video streaming platform built on Ethereum, has raised $8 million | +22% Increase |
The Livepeer network supports video transcoding and distribution by connecting economically incentivized nodes. As a result, Livepeer is able to provide a censorship-resistant, cost-effective, and open solution for developers seeking to integrate video streaming into their applications. Livepeer faces tough competition from centralized incumbents, but as video streaming's popularity continues to rise, there may also be a growing need for decentralized video streaming services.
