I am merely a week into cryptocurrency and I am already discovering so many game changers like Steemit. But behold, there is a new player in town: LBRY.
What is LBRY
The short version is LBRY is for digital media like videos, ebooks and images what Steem is for social media and articles.
The LBRY protocol is a mix of HTTP and BitTorrent. It creates an alternative internet and serves as a foundation for online content. Developers can build Apps to make the content more accessible to users. The final files will be distributed to the users in a peer-to-peer way that resembles BitTorrent. The major difference is that it is based on Blockchain. This blockchain stores also stores meta data from the files in the ledger. The units are called LBC (LBRY Credits).
This currency can then be used to purchase premium content stored on the network. This is particularly interesting for content creators who otherwise sell their courses on Udemy or on their own websites. There will be no access possible before the payment transaction is done. Of course users can store files with free access to everybody like YouTube. You can even stream videos on dedicated platforms developed for it, like LBRY.io. This is the platform from the developers who run it like a company. But they don't own LBRY - everyone can make better products eventually. Get your early access now and sign up for the waiting list: Early Access
Mining & Bounties
There will be 1 Billion LBC eventually. The schedule is decaying over 20 years. While the first year brings 100 Million, the following 19 years bring less and less. The founders are also releasing a lot of participation credits for helping to build the community. They have a whole lot of different bounties.
Price development
They are going steep recently. Three months ago they were below $0.02. Three weeks ago they were at 0.2. Now they are at $0.82. Tomorrow they have a life stream with the developers at 21:00 CEST (Central Europe Time). You can follow it on their YouTube channel.
What does it mean?
This can change the movie and TV industry. It can change the online course industry. It is a serious alternative to YouTube and Flickr. And it brings big content creators back to the table after scaring them away with copyright infringement on BitTorrents. The developers are aware of the infringement possibility of LBRY and compare it with BitTorrent: Here there are records over transactions, stored forever or at least widely open. If a library points to infringing content it can be updated or removed. Penalties by the law are fully applicable in this network and easier to follow thanks to the records in the ledger. Further, settlement providers can block purchases of infringed content. All these points are an advancement to BitTorrent and might be to reason why LBRY might become big.
As a fulltime content creator I am totally in love with the idea. In combination with an infant cryptocurrency that is just about to get really started, LBRY is the most interesting altcoin for me at the moment. The reason is mainly because I really want to use it.
So, make sure to subscribe to the waiting list to enter the new sharing platform and maybe grab some of those delicious bounties while you are there.
