Livepeer

As outlined in the company's white paper, the Livepeer project aims to deliver a live video streaming network protocol that is fully decentralized, highly scalable, and cryptocurrency token incentivized. It provides a solution that can function as the live media layer in the decentralized development (Web3) stack. Moreover, Livepeer is meant to serve as an economically efficient alternative to centralized broadcasting solutions for existing broadcasters. To do this, the organization's network offers APIs, guides, resources, tools, and discovery for adding live videos and improve and secure the network through stakes and rewards.

On Livepeer.org it is noted that it is not an official website in the sense of ownership of and authority over the technology. It is explained that since no person or party owns or controls the technology behind Livepeer, no person or organization is authorized to act or speak in its name.

Introduction to Livepeer.

In Livepeer's Governance Founders Statement, Doug Petkanics, chief executive officer and cofounder at the company, stated that "[Livepeer's] mission is to build the world’s open video infrastructure ... [through] the power of open source software, combined with the harnessing of underutilized resources like compute and bandwidth ... [and] the use of cryptoeconomic incentives for bootstrapping and participation ... to deliver an infrastructure that can power video streaming applications at a highly efficient price, and infinite scale."

The makers of Livepeer outlined three factors as key to their strategy: open source, an open market for resources, and crypto-economic incentives. In their view, these factors imply decentralization by indicating that the development, infrastructure, and economic policy are contributed to or adhered to by many independent parties from various regions in the world. As a benefit of this network of stakeholders, which includes developers, infrastructure operators, and network participants, Livepeer can operate as a base layer protocol capable of powering all video streaming on devices connected to the internet. In their philosophy, Livepeer should benefit the public and be governed by it, as opposed to adopting the single-entity-serving model of corporate or governmental ownership.

To offer the live and on-demand video services for startups and organizations, Livepeer offers a scalable platform using an Ethereum-based protocol for video transcoding. This is designed to make streaming reliable while reducing the underlying costs of the transcoding and broadcasting of the video. As well, Livepeer acts as a decentralized marketplace where developers can use the platform to build applications that integrate the platform's live video and transcoding. The platform is developed to reduce the bandwidth consumption and computing cost for video transcoding and broadcasting over the internet, without the collection and sale of user data or the inclusion of advertising. Livepeer's decentralized, token-incentivized, open network is offered as an alternative to the advertising and legacy models.

It is further elaborated in the company's Governance Founders Statement that while a corporation can be a highly efficient form of governance, the disadvantages that come with it would prevent Livepeer from achieving its goals. Livepeer's decision to not opt for a traditional corporate governing structure is backed by the following reasoning:

• Rather than seeking competitive improvements out of their own self-interest, a significant risk of open source contributors yielding to the roadmap, gatekeeping, and authority of the governing entity may arise.

• Infrastructure operators may feel as if their decision-making authority were compromised by the governing entity, aware that changes to the system could be made or control over it taken, that they could be de-platformed, and their economics could be affected in a negative way, all of which might discourage initial involvement.

• Crypto-economic network participants might be skeptical of the ruling entity's incentives, uncertain as to the project's future and excluded from participation in future development.

Livepeer was founded in 2017 by Doug Petkanics, Eric Tang, and Chris Hobcroft, who went on to find Livepeer, Inc., which is the organization behind Livepeer's network, managing and building the network out. The managing organization allows the Livepeer platform to remain decentralized while providing a guiding organization to build out the Livepeer network and live-streaming tools.

The Livepeer Token (LPT) is designed to be a coordination and incentive mechanism used to keep the network cost-effective, reliable, and secure. The token is intended to serve as a bonding mechanism to incentivize orchestrators to act honestly and secure the network. Tokens are minted at the conclusion of periods, called "rounds" by Livepeer, and are distributed to delegators and orchestrators in proportion to previous stakes. This is to incentivize those who participate in the network. To keep participation desirable, the inflation rate of LPT is set to adjust automatically depending on how many tokens are staked in the total supply in circulation.