Decentralized video streaming service Theta Network will host a three-month-long hackathon starting next week to develop innovations on the platform.
“Join us in building products, integrations and tools for the Theta ecosystem to decentralize video infrastructure worldwide!”
The Theta Network requests that programmers submit apps, SDKs, or protocols to improve its use case, functionality, and useability. Examples of such projects include integrations with other video platforms, dApps, NFTs, analytics tools, and block explorers.
CEO Mitch Liu and CTO Jieyi Long will judge the submissions. The scoring criteria will weight 40% to value added to the Theta ecosystem, 40% on execution, and 20% on innovation.
The Q1 2021 Theta Hackathon launches on Monday, January 18th! The hackathon will run until mid-April leading into Mainnet 3.0 launch, and the top 3 submissions will be awarded $50k, $25k, and $10k worth of THETA tokens. Learn how you can participate here: https://t.co/HbNsWz7r4M pic.twitter.com/AZgA7sP4M8
— Theta Network (@Theta_Network) January 13, 2021
The first prize winner(s) gets Theta tokens to the value of $50k, with second and third earning $25k and $10k, respectively.
Mainnet 3.0 Aims to Revolutionize Blockchain Video Streaming
The Theta Network’s goal is to disrupt traditional streaming platforms, such as YouTube, Netflix, and Twitch.
By building a decentralized streaming infrastructure using Validator, Guardian, and Edge nodes, Theta hopes to reward creators and viewers with a bigger slice of the revenue while also addressing critiques of centralized platforms, including censorship.
As mentioned in the above tweet, the hackathon will lead into Theta’s Mainnet 3.0 launch, scheduled for April 9, 2021.
Mainnet 3.0 builds upon the previous iteration by adding two innovations. These are the inclusion of Elite Edge nodes, also the implementation of a TFUEL burning mechanism.
Theta community members host the Edge nodes. They form an integral aspect of the P2P decentralized network by facilitating the relaying of video.
With the Mainnet 3.0 upgrade, “uptime mining” is activated to enable the tokenization of internet bandwidth and network availability.
As such, users can stake TFUEL to an Edge node and receive rewards back for doing so. Staking to an Edge node upgrades it to an Elite Edge node in the process. The Theta team expects staking rewards to come out at between 2-4%.
But that’s not all. The new Mainnet launch will also bring in a TFUEL burning mechanism to counter inflationary pressures.
“With Theta 3.0, a minimum of 25% of each TFuel payment to the edge network will be burned at the protocol level, effectively becoming a cost for using the network. In the long-run as Theta’s edge network becomes more widely adopted, this could meaningfully reduce the supply of TFuel.”
Huge Moves See Theta Outperform Market Leader
The performance of Theta over the last 12 months has seen an astonishing 2000% gain. Over the same period, Bitcoin managed 330%.
As seen in the price chart, the bulk of the gains followed the firm’s Mainet 3.0 release announcement, made in December 2020.
Following that, the token has been rising strongly in the CoinMarketCap rankings. Currently, it is placed 18th, with Tron in line to be overtaken.
With that, can Theta maintain this level of momentum going into 2021?
Source: THETAUSD on TradingView.com
