In 2024, the DePIN track still has many projects and gameplay worth looking forward to. With the market warming up, new value opportunities may arise from this.
At the end of January, Theta Network, a decentralized video streaming platform based on the chain, announced its 2024 roadmap, stating that it will launch Theta EdgeCloud (Phase 1) in the first half of 2024. This is a hybrid cloud computing platform based on distributed edge architecture. Theta EdgeCloud combines the functions of cloud and edge architecture to provide services for emerging artificial intelligence use cases in the video, media, and entertainment fields.
So, can Theta Network's seemingly grand hybrid cloud computing platform bring about many positive changes for the Web3 world in 2024? The following provides a brief introduction for everyone.
Understanding the Past and Present of Theta Network: Born in 2017, the previous bull market saw the popularity of staking and mining services
Before introducing Theta Network, we can first understand its parent company, Theta Labs. Theta Labs was founded by Mitch Liu and Jieyi Long in 2017, headquartered in San Francisco, USA. The company claims that its members are all graduates of world-renowned universities. Public information shows that during the ICO boom in 2017, Theta Labs raised over $10 million in funding, with investors including Samsung NEXT, Sony Innovation Fund, Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments (BDMI), Creative Artists Agency (CAA), as well as Silicon Valley venture capital firms such as DCM and Sierra Ventures.
As a decentralized video streaming platform based on native blockchain technology, Theta Network rewards viewers who share bandwidth with THETA tokens, providing high-definition streaming video content and reducing video distribution costs. Theta Network aims to develop more efficient methods to distribute any type of content and data globally through a paid peer-to-peer network.
Unlike traditional centralized servers, THETA uses a node network model to establish peer-to-peer connections between viewers and nodes. Users watching video content on the Theta network can choose to voluntarily provide their spare bandwidth and computing resources, becoming a caching node on the network. This setup not only reduces the bandwidth costs for video content distributors but also improves the quality of streaming media through the principle of using nearby nodes.
During the previous bull market, Theta Labs launched staking and mining services, gaining widespread attention in the industry, but also facing criticism as a financial game. In recent years, Theta Labs has accelerated its collaboration with traditional Web2 companies in NFT and Web3 gaming, including partnerships with gaming company Pogs, Sony Electronics, the TV show "American Idol," and the famous attractions in Las Vegas.
Technical Solution Interpretation of Theta EdgeCloud: Providing a seamless task platform for the supply and demand of AI video and image services
After understanding the background of Theta Labs, we have roughly summarized the technical solution of Theta EdgeCloud based on official information from Theta Network for readers.
As the next-generation Theta edge network, Theta EdgeCloud is operated by Theta Labs' cloud-hosted nodes, which will run AI video, image generation AI models, and other AI modeling-related tasks, providing a range of AI technology application values for its partners and the Theta community. According to Theta Network, if advanced node users stake more than 500,000 TFUEL tokens (the second asset on the Theta Network, used for paying gas fees), they can choose to run the new "Elite+ Booster" module to perform computing tasks for EdgeCloud. Correspondingly, they may also receive higher returns and create more market-valuable AI video or image model products.
In the second version of Theta EdgeCloud to be launched in the second half of 2024, partners and end users will be able to run their own EdgeCloud nodes in personal data centers or cloud infrastructure, giving nodes more flexibility to prioritize or exit tasks and a wider range of choices for processing high-quality asset tasks. Of course, this is an intermediate version to prepare for a fully decentralized EdgeCloud model, where community-operated edge nodes can participate in a hybrid cloud architecture.
By 2025, the fully decentralized Theta EdgeCloud will be officially released, with more advanced features. This will enable community nodes in the Theta Network to seamlessly collaborate with its cloud operating infrastructure. In simple terms, this Theta EdgeCloud will truly optimize the supply and demand between video producers and the market. Video producers and video demanders will complete seamless asset transactions on the Theta EdgeCloud platform, with the latter issuing tasks, the former accepting orders, and all asset transfers settled in TFUEL tokens upon completion. Additionally, Theta EdgeCloud will open a unique API interface for developers, node operators, and ordinary users to complete platform technical tasks at the lowest cost, which will not only thrive the market but also increase participants' income.
It is worth mentioning that Theta Labs' enterprise validators and governance committee include well-known Web2 companies such as Google, Samsung, Sony, Creative Artists Agency (CAA), Binance, Blockchain Ventures, DHVC, and gumi, which serves as a strong endorsement and brand effect. Based on this, Theta Network leverages its network of millions of viewers to strengthen its peer-to-peer video network and enhance partnerships with high-quality content partners such as Lionsgate, MGM Studios, NASA, and popular video platforms integrated with Theta infrastructure, including CONtv Anime, Party Poker, World Poker Tour, Cinedigm, Samsung VR, GameTalkTalk, MovieBloc, Ultra, and GFUEL, among others.
Additionally, Theta Network's plans for the first half of 2024 include the Theta Hackathon, new adoption metrics and sub-chain statistics, ecosystem project support, TNT20 staking, and Theta Video API optimization. The second half of the year will see plans for the fully decentralized Theta Video API, Theta Web3 Theater, and extended TDROP use cases. These plans aim to bring more technological innovation and ecosystem advantages to Theta Network through an open ecosystem.
Whether the DePIN market will erupt in 2024 is still unknown, but this is the core of Theta EdgeCloud development
In simple terms, Theta EdgeCloud is anchored in the most popular applications of large AI models such as streaming video and AI images. As the global entertainment industry develops, the demand for this market segment will also gradually increase. Through the paradigm of decentralized cloud hosting and token economic incentive models, Theta EdgeCloud can indeed attract a large number of users to participate within a specific period, and its preparations in terms of technological research and development can be seen from the annual plan. Of course, Theta Labs is also a well-established company in the industry, with strong support in terms of technology, resources, and business. We look forward to seeing Theta EdgeCloud leading the technological innovation and iteration of the DePIN model in 2024 and beyond.
Of course, Theta Network itself also has certain risks and historical burdens, which are unfavorable factors for the project. Firstly, after the previous staking and mining activities, its asset price performance was poor, greatly damaging the project's reputation and undermining community consensus and trust. Secondly, in the dual-token model, how to better achieve value circulation and risk control for the two assets may not be the project's strong suit. Finally, there are certain technical challenges in the realization of the Theta EdgeCloud concept, requiring a certain research and trial-and-error period to ensure the smooth implementation of the solution. The most significant macro factor is whether the heat of the DePIN track has dissipated and when the oscillating market will end, which may bring fatal uncertainty to the project's development.
Therefore, we also need to maintain a cautious attitude towards the application of the DePIN track, carefully weighing its multidimensional information as a whole and doing our best to control potential risks.
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