Tokens are always presented alongside speculative decentralized tech. How can we understand tokens if we don't get the product?
Let's talk about tokenizing a protocol you know: BitTorrent
Getting tokenization right could create an efficient market for content.
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File storage is cheap Amazon Glacier charges $0.004/GB per month. Storing a standard def movie for 10 years would cost $0.336 Want to long term value invest by seeding in the tokenized BitTorrent market? Find unpopular files someone will want where it is worth storing for years
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In financial markets… • News is quickly priced into stocks • Firms buy undervalued stocks • Investors arbitrage between markets Tokenizing BitTorrent is similar: • Popular downloads becomes faster • Hoaders find undervalued content • Seeders arbitrage between trackers
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Imagine if you could place a bounty on a certain file you want. > I'll pay 1,000 TRNT for a leak of the new Star Wars Private torrent trackers have success with this using upload credit. A decentralized token bounty would take this to another level. Huge incentive to share!
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Private trackers enforce centralized upload ratios. Tokenized BitTorrent decentralizes and improves on this: • Tokens are portable between trackers • Token rates can be negotiated based on demand. Private trackers manually adjust requirements when current ratio is too hard
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Tokenizing BitTorrent introduces global and decentralized upload ratio-like incentives even if you can’t cash out to fiat Even without a profit motive, global upload incentive means you can benefit everywhere and you don’t lose big if OiNK or http://what.cd is shut down
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Fitting network payments to user incentives is hard! By using a token instead of ETH/BTC, the protocol designer can experiment in early phases and decentralize proportional to risk tolerance. A BitTorrent token fork is reasonable, BTC not. Big reason to consider tokens IMO
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Building decentralized protocols is hard. Historically, file sharing businesses are hard to profit from. I think the fat protocol paradigm is a strong argument for tokenizing BitTorrent, specifically. Launching a protocol isn’t just tech. Network effects require marketing.
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As mentioned, using a token instead of BTC lets you hedge risk while experimenting by keeping the possibility of a fork open You can also use a token to incrementally experiment w/ incentives. Start with a closed network token you can’t cash out then support fiat exchange later
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PayPal scaled past network effects by giving $5 to every invited user. Decentralization liberates, right? Tokens provide a low cost alternative that let you try things like tokenizing BitTorrent and overcoming network effects without $100M in VC funding
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Yeah, you can fork a tokenized protocol and add Ethereum or Bitcoin. Who is footing the marketing bill for bootstrapping your hostile yet philanthropic fork? It’s not about greed driving protocols, it just doesn’t cost $0 to get users.
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I intentionally didn’t cover a few topics: • Scaling blockchains • Decentralized identity and Sybil resistance • Fraud resistance These are what crypto companies will spend years building. I just wanted to share the vision for tokens I think others might be missing
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Is you enjoyed this thread, I also have a blog post on tokenizing BitTorrent.
The post goes into more detail while this thread clarifies and expands on some things I didn’t cover in the post.
Thanks for reading!https://medium.com/@jbackus/what-if-bittorrent-had-a-token-13d62a590aa7 …Show this thread
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