Theta Fuel (TFUEL) is a decentralized video distribution and sharing network based on a combination of blockchain technology with the power of social networks' users.
Theta Fuel Coin is the second token of Theta Network and a native token on the Theta blockchain. TFUEL powers on-chain transactions such as payments to streamers to share a video stream or interact with or distribute smart contracts.
Read on to learn everything you need to know about the project, including real-time data on Theta Fuel (TFUEL) cryptocurrency, TFUEL price, market cap, trading volume, circulating supply, and more.
What Is TFUEL
Theta Fuel (TFUEL) is a purpose-built blockchain for decentralized peer-to-peer video delivery. Viewers are incentivized to share their excess computing and spare bandwidth resources on the network.
Theta Fuel (TFUEL) is an open-source protocol built to power an underlying distributed streaming network. It's open to all developers and content providers who can create customized Dapps, i.e., decentralized applications, for their audiences on top of it. DApps on the network can provide a range of entertainment types, such as movies and TV, music, esports, live streaming, and distance learning. Video platforms already running on the Theta Network include Samsung VR, Cinedigm, Shout! Factory, and THETA.tv.
Here are the features of the platform:
- Viewers win Theta Fuel awards for sharing high bandwidth and resources
- Higher quality video streaming
- Lower cost of delivering video streams.
TFUEL or Theta Fuel serves as the utility token in decentralized video and data delivery. It's used to power all operations on the Theta blockchain, like payments to Edge Node relayers for sharing a video stream, for deploying and interacting with smart contracts, and as fees associated with transacting NFTs and DeFi applications. It's also used to incentivize users who share their redundant computing power as Edge Compute nodes and bandwidth resources as Edge Caching nodes for video streams and other data.
Theta Fuel also acts as a gas token. While in Ethereum, gas is the cost required to pay miners for implementing transactions, in Theta, network relayers earn TFUEL as payment for video stream delivery.
The very first block of the Theta blockchain included 5 billion TFUEL tokens. Each year, the token's supply grows as new tokens are generated as staking rewards.
Theta Network Founders
Headquartered in Cupertino, California's Silicon Valley, Theta was founded by Mitch Liu and Jieyi Long in 2017.
Liu, CEO at Theta Labs, is a professional entrepreneur with extensive experience in mobile gaming and online advertising. Mitch has co-founded the mobile advertising and app monetization platform Tapjoy, Inc and the mobile social gaming studio Gameview, creating free-to-play games for Android and iOS.
In 2015, with current Theta CTO Jieyi Long and venture companies' help, Liu founded VR eSports platform SLIVER.tv. In 2017, the Theta project was launched.
Long is a seasoned entrepreneur and an R&D engineer. He worked as a research and development engineer at the software company Synopsys. Before co-founding SLIVER.tv and Theta, he had co-founded the mobile game development studio Madskill games in 2014.
Among Theta's advisors are YouTube co-founder Steve Chen and Twitch's Justin Kan. Many major corporations like Sony, Samsung, and the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) have invested in the project.
Theta token ICO ended on January 4, 2018, with $20 million raised.
How Does TFUEL Work
Theta blockchain relies on a consensus mechanism called Multi-Level Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT). It allows nodes to take part in the consensus process while supporting higher transaction throughput.
BFT is a modified version of the Proof-of-Stake mechanism, allowing high-speed validations and transactions by utilizing a small number of nodes.
Originally, Theta was launched on Ethereum, with its native token corresponding to the ERC-20 token standard. In March 2019, the Theta team announced its own mainnet. Currently, it is a separate blockchain protocol and is compatible with Ethereum Virtual Machine, which allows blockchain architects to build decentralized applications (Dapps) on the Ethereum blockchain.
Theta has Resource-Oriented Micropayment Pool, Multi-BFT Consensus, and Aggregated Signature Gossip Scheme. The multi-level consensus mechanism developed by the Theta Ledger allows 11 thousand nodes to participate in the consensus process and supports a high transaction throughput (1000+ TPS). As an end-to-end streaming solution, Theta provides users with both economic and technical benefits.
The Theta Network consists of three types of nodes. Edge Nodes are numerous and are hosted by Theta community members. They contribute bandwidth or help facilitate data delivery and edge computing in general. The release of Theta's peer-to-peer "EdgeCast" technology significantly improved the capability of the Theta Edge Network. The network is now capable of caching and relaying live stream video data globally, as well as capturing live video and transcoding it in real-time.
Enterprise Validator Nodes are a small group of companies that propose and produce new blocks in the chain. A larger group of community-run Guardian Nodes then seal blocks and check that Validator Nodes aren't acting maliciously.
Guardian Nodes make sure that no single company controls the majority of the staked THETA tokens. Besides, they ensure security, checking the accuracy of proposed transaction blocks.
Theta employs a dual token system. Theta Token (THETA) is the protocol's governance token staked by Validator and Guardian nodes. To vote on proposals or to become a node operator, users need to stake THETA. The token has a max supply of 1 billion.
Theta Fuel (TFUEL) is the "gas" token used for operations on the network, such as interacting with smart contracts. Edge Nodes earn TFUEL for sharing resources and relaying video streams. Viewers and content creators receive tokens and access better video stream service in Theta, while video platforms save money.
Theta community members can stake THETA to become Guardian Nodes. They can also host Theta Edge Nodes by contributing their computing resources for video capturing, transcoding, caching, and relaying.
The THETA token is used for staking as Validator and Guardian nodes and for participating in protocol governance.
TFUEL Network
On June 30, 2021, Theta launched a major protocol update, mainnet 3.0. It brought two new changes:
- TFUEL staking for becoming an Elite Edge Node
- TFUEL burning mechanism
Elite Edge Nodes allow tokenization of Internet bandwidth. In return, they get more TFUEL tokens.
The platform announced that at least 25% of each TFUEL payment to the Edge Network would be burned, meaning removed from the circulating supply. At the same time, 100% of gas fees for operating smart contracts and transactions are burned.
As the supply of TFUEL tokens grows at 5% yearly, the burning feature will decrease the inflation rate by removing tokens from the circulating supply volume. With the update, the platform aims to balance the token's flow. Unlike TETHA, Theta Fuel's supply isn't capped.
Trading TFUEL is available on various crypto exchanges, including Binance, Gate.io, Upbit, Pionex, etc.
Theta Fuel price and market cap depend on various factors, such as general trends and development and upgrades.
TFUEL's being connected to the Theta network positively impacts token adoption. Theta Lab's partners are big names such as NASA, media companies Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Liongate Films, ONE Championship, and others.
Some major companies have stakes in Theta and are Enterprise validator nodes, including Google, Samsung, and others.
Theta follows a roadmap, aiming to expand its services, especially towards Dapp development tools and NFTs.
