CGV Research: An Insight Into Top 3 Projects in the web3 Index Chart: Pocket Network, Arweave, and Livepeer

2 years ago

— By Vargason, CryptogramVenture FoF Research Fellow

Before the emergence of blockchain, Web3.0 tin lone enactment successful the conception signifier owed to the deficiency of solutions. With the improvement of blockchain technology, a fig of Web3.0 related projects person emerged.

According to the Web3 Index compiled by web3index.org (a website that tracks protocol usage crossed the full Web3 stack), successful the past 30 days, the gross and different broad indexes of Pocket Network, Arweave, and Livepeer ranked among the apical comparative to different projects. Pocket Network is presently the Number 1 middleware, with its 30-day gross much than 30 times that of Arweave. In November, the fees paid by developers accrued by 208%.

In the Web1.0 era, the transmission of accusation was one-way, without enactment connected the user’s side. Web2.0 gave users the close to edit, use, and interact with information. However, privateness extortion remained an issue, and the worth of idiosyncratic information wasn’t explored. Web3.0 broke ample intermediary platforms’ monopoly that had resulted from Web2.0, transforming the platform-centered worth organisation mode into 1 that allows each subordinate who creates worth for the level to person a stock of the profit.

Web3.0 cannot beryllium built successful the air. Before Web3.0 applications tin beryllium adopted connected a ample scale, the blockchain infrastructure indispensable beryllium improved. In this article, CryptogramVenture FoF (hereafter CGV FoF) focuses connected 3 blockchain projects, namely, Pocket Network, Arweave, and Livepeer, and introduces the important infrastructural components of Web3.0 from 3 aspects: API, storage, and streaming media.

Note: This nonfiction is simply a CGV FoF probe insubstantial and is for notation only. It does not represent immoderate concern proposal.

Pocket Network

Basic Introduction

Pocket is simply a distributed API infrastructural task built for Web3 applications. It provides a trustless API protocol that is disposable for each large blockchain networks.

Pocket task aims to physique a implicit distributed web of blockchain nodes. Through the trustless API protocol, developers tin seamlessly entree thousands of nodes, gathering a DAO ecosystem successful operation with cryptoeconomic incentives.

Pain Points Solved

On November 11, 2020, Ethereum suffered an outage that lasted astir 4 and a fractional hours. Infura, the API work supplier of Ethereum and IPFS, said that its Ethereum Mainnet API work was temporarily interrupted, which resulted successful this outage incidents. This is besides 1 of the galore Single Points of Failure (SPFs) perplexing centralized work providers.

CGV FoF has learnt that this incidental did not impact users who added Pocket RPC’s Ethereum nodes to their wallets. They could inactive commercialized and interact done DApps oregon astute contracts. This was imaginable chiefly owed to the information that the Pocket Network node relation has a assortment of Ethereum clients, which makes the web work much flexible.

Michael O’Rourke, CEO and co-founder of Pocket Network, believes that centralized infrastructure providers indispensable person a ample fig of disposable buffers to conscionable further needs. Due to the decentralized plan of Pocket Network, it lone needs to commencement and tally a tiny portion of the backup buffer, frankincense reducing the work cost. According to the company’s estimates, the Pocket Network services are “at slightest 10 times cheaper” than centralized services.

Token-based Economic Model

Pocket Network has designed a unsocial economical exemplary based connected its token POKT. The model, which is based connected DAO, creates a decentralized and trustless bilateral marketplace betwixt nodes and developers successful its ecology, which enables each participants to payment from it. In the Pocket ecology, developers and nodes are the rigid demanders of POKT.

Developer: Uses POKT tokens to instrumentality API requests, frankincense obtaining much businesslike but little costly distributed API petition services.

Node: Possesses a definite magnitude of POKT tokens to supply node services, and is awarded with POKT tokens for providing API services and implementing developers’ API requests.

Because each enactment of the marketplace has its ain unsocial inducement mechanism, the bidding prices of some sides besides vary. The full proviso volition beryllium constricted by the burning mechanics established by DAO that controls the token policy. The eventual full proviso of POKT volition beryllium determined by DAO.

How does POKT go a cheaper solution? The reply is to involvement POKT alternatively of paying AWS bills. As the fig of relays and nodes increases, information volition go cheaper. It is expected that the terms of each relay volition yet stabilize astatine a definite bid of magnitude successful the adjacent fewer years.

Although the web is inactive successful its infancy, the fig of nodes keeps expanding astatine a important rate.

This caller signifier of outgo by staking whitethorn go a root of imaginable friction successful the process of adoption. However, erstwhile POKT succeeds, we whitethorn person recovered an effectual mode to link assorted Web3 middleware infrastructures with tokens.

Partners

Algorand has announced its inaugural to heighten interoperability by integrating the decentralized API infrastructure Pocket Network, and is slated to make cross-chain bridges.

Some cutting-edge blockchain projects person besides participated successful the pouch ecology, specified arsenic SOLANA, Matic, iCon, etc. Technical teams specified arsenic BlockSwap Network, Api3, Web3API, Fuse, and SKALE person besides adopted POKT. spot the fig above.

Team Members

Information publically disposable shows that Pocket Network presently has much than 20 full-time professionals astir the world. As the co-founder & CEO, Michael P O’Rourke took the pb successful creating Pocket Network successful April 2017. He besides acceptable up Nonce+1 Labs, a blockchain improvement company, and has served arsenic CEO ever since.

The Pocket Network has a beardown method team. Core unit includes elder blockchain engineers, APP engineers, full-stack bundle engineers, Big Data architects, cross-chain exertion experts, fiscal exertion talents, cryptography experts, etc. The advisor squad has a balanced configuration, covering business, technology, operating, marketplace and different fields.

Arweave

Basic Information

Arweave is simply a decentralized web focusing connected imperishable retention of data. It aims to physique a information retention level that features one-time payment, imperishable storage, escaped reading, and tamper-proof.

Arweave is 1 of the preferred retention methods for NFT/Web3 projects. As a decentralized retention web based connected Blockweave technology, it adopts the innovative Proof of Access statement mechanics to set the magnitude of information stored by nodes, frankincense ensuring balanced information distribution.

Pain Points Solved

Web3.0 is committed to breaking the monopoly and power of information by centralized platforms. From this constituent of view, Web3.0 projects volition not store information connected centralized servers. Therefore, Web3.0 projects volition person monolithic information retention requirements, rendering distributed retention an important infrastructure. Compared with the accepted centralized storage, distributed retention has the advantages of precocious security, privateness protection, and prevention of azygous points of failure.

Arweave has changed the information operation of accepted blockchains. Not each node needs to store each blocks, but each clip a caller artifact is recognized, it needs to verify a erstwhile random block. This mechanics is called Blockweave. Combined with the Blockshadow mechanics that allows nodes to reconstruct a implicit blockchain according to the blockshadow and their ain transaction files, Arweave is capable to velocity up statement and supply TPS.

Token-based Economic Model

Arweave’s token is called AR. The full fig of 66 cardinal AR tokens are chiefly distributed arsenic follows: 31.4% for financing, 13% for the team, 7.1% for strategical cooperation, 2.9% for consultant, 19.1% for ecological construction, and the remaining 26.5% is reserved. The portion for ecological operation is chiefly to reward retention suppliers and promote retention suppliers to process orders, actively supply retention services for users, and efficaciously support web nodes. A full of 11 cardinal artifact grant tokens are available.

In the intrinsic inducement mechanics of Arweave, users chiefly devour AR tokens to acquisition retention services and store data, whereas retention suppliers get gross by obtaining artifact rewards and providing retention services.

At present, the tokens obtained by providing retention services relationship for lone a tiny portion of the gross of retention suppliers. Arweave has created a caller statement mechanism, Proof of Access (POA), which requires retention suppliers to verify humanities blocks earlier getting rewards. The much blocks a retention supplier has saved, the much apt it is for the retention supplier to get artifact rewards.

Data source: https://viewblock.io/arweave

Partners

In the Arweave ecology, the astir progressive tracks are finance, societal networks, contented distribution, verification, retention and archiving, DAO, and infrastructural tools. At present, the ecology is inactive successful the aboriginal signifier of construction. The pursuing fig shows Arweave’s ecosystem.

Team and Investor

The Arweave squad is composed of elder blockchain engineers. Dr. Sam Williams, laminitis & CEO of Arweave, is simply a decentralization enthusiast with affluent acquisition successful distributed strategy plan and implementation. Sam Williams is an Englishman and presently has 15K followers connected Twitter.

Investment institutions are precise funny successful the retention track. Arweave has raised funds from well-known investors, including apical concern and financing institutions specified arsenic a16z, Multicoin Capital, Union Square Ventures, and Coinbase Ventures.

Livepeer

Basic Information

Livepeer (LPT) is simply a decentralized and highly scalable protocol astatine the streaming media layer. Content creators stock real-time unrecorded videos and person tokens (LPT) arsenic rewards done video transcoding. Livepeer tin relation arsenic real-time media furniture successful the Web3 stack.

Transcoding is the process of reformatting the archetypal video record to guarantee the champion viewing experience. Anyone tin enactment successful Livepeer and go an orchestrator by moving bundle that allows them to lend their machine resources (CPU, GPU, and bandwidth) successful work of transcoding and distributing video for paying broadcasters and developers. Such orchestrators gain fees successful the signifier of a cryptocurrency similar ETH oregon a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar.

Pain Points Solved

Live video streaming consumes much than 80% of the Internet bandwidth. For start-ups and developers, utilizing accepted video infrastructure to physique a caller unrecorded streaming level means precocious costs. For streaming media applications, 1 of the astir important outgo contributors is video transcoding. Take Alicloud arsenic an example, the mean transcoding outgo of an HD unrecorded video streaming is arsenic precocious arsenic US$6.2 per hour.

Livepeer’s unfastened Web3 video infrastructure provides a creator system level for unrecorded streaming applications. The level supports the advertizing enactment mode of accepted exertion platforms and promotes a much economically feasible ecosystem than those delivered by centralized unrecorded streaming work providers.

Token-based Economic Model

LPT is simply a autochthonal functional token of Livepeer. Users tin lend their computing resources to the web done a proprietary “transcoder”. Livepeer web volition delegate tasks to the user’s GPU. After transcoding is completed, users volition beryllium rewarded with LPT tokens.

At the aforesaid time, mean users tin get income by staking their LPT tokens (thus becoming a delegator), and the staked tokens tin ballot for an orchestrator. At the opening of each circular of consensus, the web volition prime a radical of orchestrators who get the astir votes for task execution, and the orchestrators volition get a corresponding fig of caller tokens. If an orchestrator is recovered guilty, the staked tokens voted for the orchestrator volition beryllium deducted.

Delegators who ballot their tokens to an orchestrator tin get a portion of the earning from the orchestrator arsenic commission. Therefore, the delegator needs to find a reliable orchestrator to ballot successful bid to debar penalties, and the orchestrator besides needs to found a bully estimation to guarantee the enactment of the delegator successful the future.

According to the information CGV FoF finds connected Livepeer’s authoritative website, the full fig of progressive nodes has exceeded 100, the full fees earned are astir US$322,000, and the full minutes of transcoded video are 8..4 million. The capableness connected Livepeer’s web represents entree to 70,000+ GPUs, oregon capable to encode each the realtime video streaming done Twitch, Facebook, and Youtube combined.

Team Members

Livepeer lists 22 squad members connected the authoritative website. As a task that made its “debut” successful 2017, its main squad members person affluent acquisition successful blockchain and palmy entrepreneurship, arsenic good arsenic beardown method background. CEO Doug Petkanics graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor’s grade successful CS, and CTO Eric Tang graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a bachelor’s grade successful CS. The 2 co-founded the Wildcard mobile publishing platform.

In presumption of financing, the task has salient show and has been invested by galore well-known concern institutions. At present, Grayscale Investment Trust, Coinbase Ventures, PanteraCapital, Digital Currency Group, CoinFund, Animal Ventures and different institutions person invested successful Livepeer.

Summary

Web3.0 has been established arsenic the adjacent absorption of quality innovation. Now we are lasting astatine the forefront of Web 3.0, feeling the interaction of the integer satellite and the carnal world.

Pocket Network has entered a immense and highly dynamic emerging market. It has go an indispensable solution for Web3.0 infrastructure by providing trustless API protocol and relay web infrastructure. If it succeeds, the costs of gathering applications volition beryllium greatly reduced.

Storage has ever been the cardinal concern tract of each parties, and the value of decentralized retention volition go much and much prominent. With the expanding value attached to information information and idiosyncratic information ownership, the aboriginal show of information retention networks specified arsenic Arweave successful the immense and promising terrain of 3.0 is worthy looking guardant to.

If the video infrastructure solution provided by Livepeer is comparable to the centralized alternate successful presumption of prime and costs less, it volition beforehand the improvement of the ecosystem, which is much economically feasible than the centralized unrecorded streaming services.

With the improvement and maturity of Web3 market, decentralized infrastructure volition proceed to turn and go much valuable, which volition fundamentally alteration the narration and enactment mode betwixt users and the Internet.

Note: This nonfiction is simply a CGV FoF probe insubstantial and is for notation only. It does not represent immoderate concern proposal.

About CGV FoF: CGV FoF is an Asia-based Fund of Funds (FoF) that focuses connected investments successful Crypto Fund and Crypto Studio. CGV FoF is composed of household funds from Japan, Korea, and China’s mainland and Taiwan, with office successful Japan and branches successful Singapore and Canada.