Video streaming is decentralized, where one organization cannot control the content delivery of the streaming service. It is important to note the difference between decentralized and distributed video streaming.
Whereas distributed video streaming means that the content delivery network is spread across the world and one organization is behind it, decentralization removes that control entirely. It creates a network where participants can reach consensus on what the network will do, adding an extra layer of democracy and giving more power to the community.
Decentralized video streaming platforms are usually owned by the community. Blockchains allow ownership of the platform and are the foundation for decentralization, providing an ideal baseline for applications. The blockchain layer acts as a thin layer that connects all the pieces through a single decentralized ledger.
All off-network transactions must provide validation to the blockchain layer to verify whether the transaction is legitimate. Therefore, the blockchain becomes the only source of truth. However, because blockchains cannot store complex data sources such as video or images, off-network solutions such as IPFS or simple peer-to-peer storage make data accessible.
Peer-to-peer technology as a prerequisite for blockchain-based video streaming
While blockchain is becoming the base layer, a peer-to-peer protocol such as IPFS or BitTorrent is a prerequisite for full decentralization. Blockchains are inherently decentralized, and anyone will be able to have a copy of the entire blockchain if they decide to run their own node. On the other hand, file systems, which are usually centralized, are becoming increasingly difficult to use without a peer-to-peer protocol.
Services such as Google Cloud Storage, Amazon S3 and Azure Storage serve as examples of how efficient centralized storage can be. But to give users a fully decentralized experience, you can't rely on these technologies as part of a decentralized ecosystem.
Monetization remains a major challenge for decentralized video streaming platforms. Compared to the convenience of centralized platforms such as YouTube, decentralized video streaming doesn't stand a chance.
In this section, however, we'll look at the technical challenges rather than purely business model issues. The first problems that come to mind include file storage and rights management. In addition, a decentralized ecosystem is not free from the need to protect the copyrights of material created by original artists. Creators should consider implementing checks and balances to discourage malicious users from trying to disrupt the ecosystem.
In a peer-to-peer network, users need to store video files and provide a reliable Internet connection for peer-to-peer connections. Finally, there is the issue of content monetization schemes. Let's take a closer look at them, analyzing possible solutions.
Peer-to-peer file systems will always face the problem of file availability. Storage is expensive, and without clear incentives, users will not put files on their systems, let alone maintain a stable Internet connection for other users to access.
As an alternative to the file sharing ecosystem, peer-to-peer file sharing can fail due to a lack of providers. You can only get your files when another peer node is online and ready to provide you with the file. Consequently, you will need at least one other peer node to share your files. In such a peer-to-peer ecosystem, creators could resort to a central relay node to provide missing files when all peer nodes are offline.
However, this would lead to the original problem of centralization. If there is a centralized force that can provide the entire community, what are the incentives for community self-sufficiency? In this case, many projects provide a solution for continuous decentralized data sharing. Projects such as Arweave , Filecoin and BitTorrent , offer different solutions to the same problem.
Arweave is a persistent decentralized data storage system that is mainly used for archiving on the Internet. Arweave uses a single payment scheme to ensure archive availability. Users pay upfront to archive their files online.
Filecoin is a protocol that allows users to rent out available hard drive space. Filecoin serves as a peer-to-peer file system based on IPFS to allow users who have excess hard drive space to rent out their system for Filecoin mining. Filecoin may sound like a pay-as-you-go system similar to Google Drive. In my opinion, it is one of the best alternatives to peer-to-peer file systems.