There are some estimates that over 80% of all Internet bandwidth is for video. Theta has some great ideas on providing video streaming services on a blockchain.
Theta isn’t a scam, but has some concerns with staking rewards and being controlled by large companies!
Keep reading and I’ll share what makes Theta unique, how to earn money from this project, Theta’s main competition, how to get Theta, and what TFUEL is.
What is Theta?
Theta was launched in 2019 and is built on the Ethereum blockchain. It wants to be the first decentralized streaming network. If you’re on Youtube and get blocked (you’re out of business).
Theta wants to be a decentralized streaming network where you can’t get censored or blocked. They also want to cut out the middle person and provide media at a better price.
There are 2 tokens with this network.
- Theta token (THETA) – Max supply of 1 billion, used for voting and staking.
- Theta Fuel (TFUEL) – There is NO max supply, used to pay for transaction fees and staking rewards.
According to Theta video load times and streaming quality are not as good as they can be.
When you’re not using your computer you have extra bandwidth. Bandwidth is the rate of data transfer that your computer has access to. It’s measured in bits and gigabytes means 1 billion of these things.
What is really cool is YOU can make money by selling this extra bandwidth. When you’re asleep or not using your bandwidth Theta client will sell it to local viewers. They will have better streaming and loading times and you earn TFUEL tokens.
You can send tokens to streamers, you can also stake the tokens if you have over 1,000.
There are 3 types of nodes that Theta has.
- Validator Node
- Guardian Node
- Edge Nodes
Bear with me because Theta can be confusing, and I looked at MANY sources to try to wrap my head around this. Also, some Youtubers got some of the staking requirements wrong because things change in crypto.
Heck, you can view the whitepaper HERE, and it’s probably the most complicated white paper I’ve seen there are even some CRAZY math problems on it.
A validator node produces NEW blocks on the chain. Theta plans to only have 31 validator nodes and they are run by big-name companies such as Sony and Google.
To be a validator someone needs 2 million THETA tokens and it used to be 10 million. This is still “a lot” since the max supply is 1 billion. At the time of this blog post, someone would need 12.64 million dollars to be a validator.
Do you see how there are some concerns that the blockchain is run by big corporations? It is!
Next up are Guardian nodes and someone needs 1,000 Theta tokens to run a Theta guardian node and it used to be 10,000.
Like a guardian, you protect the network and you get a copy of the transactions, make sure they are accurate and there is consensus. It’s the second layer of protection for the network. What is cool is normal people can run a guardian node since all you need is 1,000 Theta tokens.
At the time of this blog post that would be $6,180 dollars to run this node. You also get rewarded with TFUEL tokens.
The last node is an Edge Node and this allows someone to replay streams over the network and you get paid in TFUEL tokens.
You can click the link HERE to view how exactly to set up this Edge Node.
There are other ways you can get paid in TFUEL by watching some videos. Advertisers can use TFUEL to reward viewers and someone can sell bandwidth to earn TFUEL.
How Theta Saves Money?
Now, you might be wondering how Theta cuts out the middle person to save money.
According to the Theta whitepaper, 40% of a video network’s expense goes to a CDN (Content Delivery Network). A CDN is a network of servers that distribute content from 1 server to many others and this is through caching content.
Theta wants to help the bandwidth from central data delivery systems to mesh networks, where other people share bandwidth.
It’s similar to Uber for the Internet.
Theta did a test on this and 45% to 90% of bandwidth was saved and this means Theta also saved money. You can learn more about this test by clicking on the link HERE.
How to Buy Theta Crypto in USA?
You could buy Theta at an exchange and here are some that accept the crypto.
- Gate.io exchange
- Huobi exchange
- Kucoin exchange
- Uphold exchange
- Crypto.com
Is Buying Tfuel a Good Investment?
A common question is what is a better THETA token or TFUEL? The THETA coin is used for staking and securing the network. TFUEL is for microtransactions.
In the past, THETA has performed better. Also, due to there being a max supply of 1 billion it’s probably a better investment than TFUEL, which doesn’t have a max supply.
Still, anything can happen and nobody “really” knows. It’s always best to do your own research and I’m not a financial advisor.
How do I cash out Theta?
You can cash out your Theta tokens by selling them on an exchange.
Here are the top exchanges that take the token.
- Gate.io exchange
- Huobi exchange
- Kucoin exchange
- Uphold exchange
- Crypto.com
Theta Staking Requirements
To run a Guardian Node…
- You need to have at least 1,000 THETA tokens (used to be 10,000)
- Minimum RAM on your computer is 8GB
- You should have 4 cores on your CPU
- Stable internet connection that is over 5Mbps.
- A Theta wallet to stake.
You can learn more about the Theta wallet by clicking on the link HERE. Staking with a Guardian node is a way you can support the network and earn TFUEL rewards.
You can click on the link HERE, to learn what is staking and how it’s different than mining. The main reason you would want to stake THETA tokens is so you could get TFUEL tokens. You could then exchange the TFUEL tokens for cash.
HERE are all the exchanges that take the TFUEL token. Like me, you’re probably wondering how much TFUEL you can earn by running a guardian node?
According to Youtuber “Cryptos for All,” he staked 23,074 Theta tokens and earned 132 TFUEL tokens per day.
There is a second way to earn TFUEL by running an Edge node. What is cool about the Edge node is you don’t need ANY THETA tokens or TFUEL to run this node.
You do need similar basic computer requirements and HERE is a link that walks you through how to run this node.
According to Cryptos for ALL after 8 days he earned 5.3 TFUEL or 0.66 TFUEL a day.
At the time of this blog post 1=TFUEL is 0.317 U.S. and so each day he earned almost 0.21 cents (this isn’t a lot).
The 3rd way to earn TFUEL is you can stake TFUEL and you need a minimum of 10,000 TFuel to stake. According to Cryptos for All he staked 218,328 TFUEL tokens and he earned 4.25 TFUEL a day. Yea, not a lot right?
The 4th way to earn TFUEL is to go to Theta.TV HERE is the link, some streams have an orange button that allows you to earn TFUEL, but it’s not a lot.
You might be wondering how to sell your bandwidth. How it works is you watch streams Theta will use your excess bandwidth to share the stream with others and this is how you sell it for TFUEL.
Due to there being MANY ways to earn money not only in crypto, but with side hustles or jobs I recommend doing what you enjoy first, and think about earning money second.
Your Happiness is important!
What Crypto is Similar to Theta?
With the rise of censorship, and video streaming Theta has a great idea, but maybe you don’t like the idea of big tech companies controlling Theta.
1 project that is similar to Theta is called AIOZ.
AIOZ is trying to solve the same problem as THETA and that is a content delivery system. Here is another example, that might help you understand this, it costs Youtube around $296,000 to host the Youtube video Gangnam Style.
Youtube did earn $348,000 in advertising revenue. What THETA and AIOZ are trying to do is get the cost of hosting the video MUCH lower then the profits would be higher. Profits are good right?
THETA uses person-to-person caching, while AIOZ uses dapps on a blockchain to deliver the media.
THETA is temporary, while AIOZ is more permanent.
AIOZ has a total supply of 1 billion tokens and around 110 million in circulation.
Maybe the best part is the requirements to run a node are EASY. All you need is a desktop computer and an internet connection. To run a node all you have to do is download the app HERE and follow the instructions
Oh, and you can also earn AIOZ tokens by watching videos. All you do is check out their website HERE, sign up and every time an ad is watched you earn some tokens.
You can sell AIOZ tokens using Kucoin, Gate.io, Uniswap, Pancake Swap, and ZT.
THETA does have a much better team with more experience. Still, both projects are interesting!
Conclusion
Theta has the co-founder of Youtube Steven Chen on their board. They also have Justin Kan the co-founder of Twitch on their board.
The founders Mitchell Liu and Jieyi Long have lots of gaming and video streaming experience (basically they have a GREAT team).
Around 85% of THETA tokens are not in the hands of the public, but insiders. Due to how insanely expensive it is (2 million THETA) to be a validator it’s questionable that it’s a decentralized network.
THETA really is controlled by big media companies!
Still, it’s more decentralized than Youtube! It’s just not as decentralized as it could be. There are also some concerns with earning TFUEL, which isn’t a lot if you run a Guardian Node or Edge Node.
Theta is one of these projects that I’m very curious about, and I want to check in on the future. Also, the project does solve real-world problems and this is an important point to remember.
I hope this blog post on if Theta is a scam was somewhat helpful. Bye for now.