The objective of the BitTorrent project is to utilize the token of the world’s largest decentralized file sharing protocol, BitTorrent, to improve content distribution and bandwidth accessibility with the help of blockchain to ultimately make it accessible to a vast number of customers.
BitTorrent, with over 100 million users across 138 countries, aims to tokenize the decentralized file-sharing protocol with their cryptocurrency token. The token, BTT, was unveiled on January 20, 2019 as a TRC-10 utility token built on the TRON blockchain. The unveiling came after the acquisition of the project by TRON as part of a $140 million deal.
It was developed to help content creators link up with their audience and facilitate payment through digital currency without the interference of a middleman. In relation to a publication on their website, it is believed that clients and operators can enjoy faster downloads in exchange for their BTT tokens. They can also be stored in a wallet for better convenience and safety.
The BitTorrent project and its BTT token have several goals that they want to fulfill:
• Serve as the link between content developers and their audience: The BTT development team have confidence in the potential of the BitTorrent cryptocurrency as a means of transaction for both developers and clients to utilize without the participation of mediators. Hence, the users can use BTT tokens to offer innovative value to their transaction procedure and computing resources without the use of fiat currencies.
• Increase familiarity with cryptocurrency technology: With the objectives of the decentralized platform being to enhance transparency, repulse censorship and offer users a means of transaction, the BitTorrent token resides at its core. The partnership between BitTorrent and TRON offers a technological set-up that is able to link all the participants at a global level, meaning that torrent users will no longer be alienated from these principles.
•To make blockchain a mainstream technology: It is anticipated that the TRON blockchain and the BitTorrent P2P network will together work in an integrated system. The positive impact of this goal is that it increases blockchain coverage to reach around a million new users, which plays an important part in encouraging mass adoption of the technology.
•Unify strategies aimed at reducing structural shortcomings of the BitTorrent protocol: Primarily, the issue being tackled by the BTT project is the need to provide its users with a variety of market-driven incentives so as to improve their partnership. The mutual focus is to have both the developers and users work in unison towards boosting and extending the duration of BitTorrent swarms.
•To influence the BitTorrent Speed model: Clients and users that acquire BTT tokens also have the opportunity to exchange their tokens for access to faster download speeds. The tokens will be stored in a specific wallet and will receive support when exchanged via a decentralized platform for TRON (TRX) tokens.
Since the collaboration between BitTorrent protocol and TRON is still in its early stages, there may be some doubts on how effective their partnership will prove. With the emergence of the BTT token, it offers both BitTorrent protocol and TRON a common ground to pull resources together and achieve their goals. This common ground is their focus on peer-to-peer technology (P2P). Thus, from a technical point of view, the BTT token plays on the strengths of the BitTorrent protocol and TRON.
To those unfamiliar with BitTorrent, it functions as an interactive protocol which uses P2P as the mainstay of its file distribution system. BitTorrent protocol gained its popularity and is known best as the platform for the distribution of electronic information and sharing of files such as movies, video clips, games, TV shows, audio files, etc. that have large sizes.
Likewise, TRON also works as a P2P-based network technology with a drive to become the universal operating system for uploading and distribution of all types of data such as video and audio content.
How does the BitTorrent (BTT) token work?
The BitTorrent protocol offers a platform that unites a large number of online services. These services include:
• Torrent sites, which usually preserve metadata about shared files and provides access to torrents,
• Trackers, which help connect peers and seeders.
• Seeders or peers. The former are users with the completely downloaded file and the latter are users with partial copies of the desired files.
BTT is expected to perform as a connection for simpler transactions which will comprise of accessible computing resources between consumers of the BitTorrent protocol, service providers, and clients.
It is forecasted that all transactions concerning the availability of the various services within the ecosystem will be based mainly on BTT tokens. The aim is to enable the tokens to be as widely separable as possible. This is to ensure that there is room available for an extensive range of prices for the offered services. The transfer of the BitTorrent tokens will be achieved through an on-chain/off-chain interchange and will consist of both the public TRON blockchain and private ledger.
The future price growth of the BTT token is to be guaranteed by having only a theoretical amount of 990 BTT per device out of the projected supply of 990 billion tokens. Although the topic of BTT token implementation among the users of torrents is only yet in the early planning and prediction stage, the BTT development team believes in the magnitude of the BitTorrent database itself, which is estimated to have around 1 billion devices in use presently.
The TRON team will deliver the tokens through its monthly planned airdrops which are scheduled to begin in February 2019 and run through until February 2025, as their size accumulates yearly which is a benefit for TRON investors.
Future BTT Services and Project Atlas
The BitTorrent token is expected to surpass its direct applications and go further. It is possible to link the TRON blockchain and the BitTorrent network, so as to offer the features of a fresh and more decentralized network. The theory of the decentralized web is fundamental to Project Atlas, which is also responsible for the initiation of the BTT token. The presentation of BTT is projected to serve as an opening to offering several services in the long run. These services include the following:
• Allow service clients to market bids and to use BTT tokens to pay for bandwidth and get content: The purpose is to build a system that is tasked with the bulk distribution of content, especially that which is necessary to be a barrier to invaders and censors alike. The BTT team anticipates that the token will become a major player, acting as a draw for service providers to maintain accessibility to their files for as many clients as possible.
• Introducing a decentralized storage service: One of the main services of BTT is allowing service clients to use their tokens to buy data storage. The service providers of BTT will be responsible for providing proof-of-storage to the clients and providing on-demand downloads of data which are stored at an initial stable price.
• Permit service clients to pay certain users for URL-based retrieval of content using a decentralized proxy system: Users who are anxious to evade IP network logistics usually view this as a theoretically viable option. This also applies to mobile clients that depend primarily on Wifi. The decentralized proxy system also permits the dismantling of content into smaller pieces which can be accessed by users in the future.
BTT Token Availability and Community Response
The BTT token succeeded in making headlines with its community responses and price chart as soon as the number of its anticipated airdrop began in February 2019. The users aren’t necessarily required to keep their tokens on Binance to benefit from the BTT airdrop, even though the BTT token sale was released with the aid of Binance Launchpad. Several crypto exchanges such as Huobi, Upbit, BitForex, OKEx and others presented their assistance for BTT airdrops. BTT and BTT-like TRC-10 tokens gained the assured support of the TRON wallet and the Trust wallet, coupled with that of the crypto exchanges.
Based on the obvious fact that BTT is a new technology, there have been a variety of mixed reactions emanating not only from the crypto-user network, but also torrent-user communities. While a number of communities are skeptical in regards to the potential of the BTT token, stating that there is a dire need for it to offer great value in a community which is accustomed to free things, others view it as a minor coin stock for investments.