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Have you ever imagined a decentralized entertainment platform where content creators are paid in full with no middleman? Meet TRON.
TRON is a blockchain-based decentralized operating system that aims to bridge the gap between content creators and content consumers.
CEO Justin Sun established the TRON Foundation in 2017 to provide a free, global, digital content entertainment system that allows easy and cost-effective content sharing.
Decentralizing entertainment with blockchain
Take Netflix, a single organization that controls what, when, and how content is put out. To host a movie, it takes a big cut out of a subscriber's fee, and it only pays a small portion to the producer.
In contrast, the blockchain would cut out the middleman and allow subscribers to directly pay the producer or content creator, kind of like how Patreon works for YouTubers.
Platforms like YouTube seem to be the beginning of a decentralized world where content creators may produce a film without anyone's approval. However, monetization on YouTube means that the producer does not have control over the pricing of a video and advertisers pay YouTube, not the producer.
How TRON uses blockchain to decentralize the industry
In October 2018, TRON established a decentralized application store, DappHouse. A decentralized app (dApp) uses peer-to-peer network technology whereby computers around the world act as broadcasters in a mesh network known as supernodes.
Unlike Netflix, a dApp is not hierarchical, which means no single website or authority can have a say over what content is to be distributed.
This decentralized system on TRON will enable:
- content creators to create and produce a film without pitching or approval
- new channels to be set up by anyone and joined by content creators
- advertisers to use tokens to buy exposure and the tokens will go directly to the creator
- viewers to use tokens to subscribe to channels or directly pay the content creator
In the past few years, TRON has improved its services to help achieve its mission of decentralizing the internet.
In 2018, they created a free platform for peer-to-peer distribution and content storage called Exodus. Odyssey was then born in 2019, providing monetary incentives to promote the creation and hosting of content on TRON. Unlike YouTube or Netflix, the incentives are based on user interaction and engagement instead of clicks and views.
Currently, TRON is building its services to enable content creators to build their brands and issue individual initial coin offerings, as well as personal tokens.
This is where TRX, the TRON coin, comes in
The cryptocurrency used by TRON is called Tronix (TRX). It is currently ranked 18th by cryptocurrency market capitalization.
As the basic unit of accounts on the TRON blockchain, TRX connects the entire TRON ecosystem with various application scenarios:
- credit card payment
- TRON ATM
- purchase TRON merchandise in WeChat stores
- purchase tokens issued on TRON
- obtain energy and bandwidth by freezing TRX
- obtain voting rights for super representatives* by freezing TRX
- receive BTT airdrop reward
- participate in the Tronics Support Plan and receive TRX rewards
- payment on Pornhub
- buy virtual gifts on CallMe, a live broadcasting platform
*Super representatives are the bookkeepers on the TRON network who are responsible for the verification and packing of all transaction data broadcasted on the network.
TRX can be stored in wallets that support the Ethereum blockchain, but it can't be purchased with fiat currencies. Instead, TRX can be purchased on exchanges like Liquid and Binance by exchanging them for other cryptocurrencies like ETH or BTC.
TRX has a high throughput value, as it can consistently handle 2,000 transactions per second (TPS). It’s significantly higher than ETH (25 TPS) and BTC (6 TPS). A higher TPS would mean the ability to scale to real-world volumes and allow more people to use the blockchain platform.
Is there a place for TRON blockchain in the future?
The current scenario looks like this:
An organization funds the development of content from studio to end-user via cable, broadcast, mobile device, or website with the bulk of the revenue going towards the organization (the middleman) instead of the content creator.
The possible future scenario with a blockchain platform like TRON would look like this:
Content creators can distribute their content via a peer-to-peer network that upholds the decentralized model, whereas viewers and advertisers may directly pay the creators using tokens — eliminating the middleman.
With more and more people challenging the monopolization of industries by the very few and powerful corporations,TRON is challenging those that control the Internet by decentralizing the entertainment industry, thus creating a more level playing field.
Netflix, Amazon, or HBO would be replaced by a blockchain system like TRON and content creators like those on YouTube will get paid directly and in full by viewers who value their work.
If we as a society value a decentralized system that rewards the content creator instead of the middleman, then we may expect to see more of TRON in the future.
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