ABSTRACT
Over the last couple of decades, we lived a digital revolution and we have experienced some monumental technological leaps forward. With the internet becoming basically a commodity, with the smartphones becoming more and more affordable and powerful, our access to information, to world-wide audiences, to tools and knowledge has never been greater and easier for such a high number of individuals. However, this hyper-connection does not come without its drawbacks — information can still be filtered & altered, audiences can be influenced to see only one side of the story, voices can be censored and as in our previous offline life (for the ones that lived in such a world) we need to remain aware, always question and avoid the pitfall of being stuck in our bubble.
Ironically, even though we have a huge number of options, nowadays most of our online time is spent on a few social platforms that learned through the past two decades how to harness best the power of delivered content in any of its form: video, written, audio and use this power for its own gains, and interests — basically feeding us its own version of reality. Primarily, this derives from the fact that the censorship power is concentrated in the hands of a few individuals, and it’s exercised without any consultation with the users.
With the current state of censorship and cancel culture we find it extremely important to provide users with a tool that allows for the freedom to speak their mind without fear of repression, and with the freedom to make their own decision on what’s acceptable, tolerable and what isn’t.
The conversation shouldn’t revolve around who should be in control anymore, simply because the answer is no one. We are in a position today to go back to the drawing board and redesign the technology itself in such a way where decentralization is the main feature, the distribution of the content is so wide, and the creator has full ownership of their content to the extent that the byproduct can only be a censorship resistant technology and the implications are empowerment rather than silencing.
WHAT IS KAVARII?
Kavarii is a decentralized video platform, built using Web3 technologies, that will change how you create, share, use and consume video. Kavarii arms content creators and video consumers with the necessary toolkit to freely create, securely share and own, reward and be rewarded, and instantly use and enjoy video content.
Kavarii is built in the principles of decentralization starting from the specific underlying platform on which is built, namely the Elrond blockchain, continuing with its structure of governance which empowers the community.
The concept around which we are building Kavarii focuses on the protection of content, vision, fair reward and with functionalities specifically designed against centralization or influence from interested groups.
In our opinion, using decentralized technology allows for this to become reality as it reduces, if not eliminates any potential choke point for censorship. A decentralized platform is essentially the only way to prevent a single authority from controlling content and ensure that everyone gets and owns their voice even if it’s uncomfortable.
A decentralized application uses blockchain technology to store all data and content, Blockchains are a distributed ledger of sorts that replace traditional databases by storing bits of the data in multiple locations making it impossible to remove the data as no central point holds or controls the data. Once data or content is uploaded to the blockchain it is publicly available to anyone in the world at any time, making it the most censorship resistant technology on earth.
This may sound complicated, and that’s because it is. The good news is we have developed the platform to look, feel and operate like a traditional web platform so the average user will not know the data is stored on the blockchain. It is important for us to make the platform as simple as possible to use while maintaining technological integrity.
Kavarii focuses in giving back or maybe giving for the first-time control to the individual on what he shares, what he creates, what he consumes and what he really wants to support. Kavarii empowers the content creators, giving them an instant connection with their audience from all perspectives: audibly, visually, sentimentally, financially — audience which can support the creators directly without any middleman or interference.
WHY ELROND?
We chose Elrond because it shares our beliefs and because of its technology which provides to Kavarii the foundation stones required for a comprehensive implementation of our vision for a decentralized video platform.
Elrond’s true decentralized architecture delivered through the 3200 Validator Nodes deployed and the Secure Proof of Stake mechanism, the instant, effortless NFT minting process are vital for Kavarii.
Near-instant Transaction Speed — +15,000 TPS with Negligible fees <$.01 are essential for us in order to deliver to Kavarii users ease of access and the capability to use its advanced features at a negligible cost. The security and availability ensured by Elrond Network are critical to deliver high quality services and features for our users.
MAIN FEATURES
Full ownership of the content
Kavarii uses blockchain technology to store all data and content on the platform, and we go one step further by “Minting” each video into a Non-Fungible Token (NFT). An NFT is a unique block of data that allows the owner to have complete management control of the data itself, which is tied to their unique address. This allows for easy transfers and offers the owner the ability to take their data with them wherever they please.
Freedom of speech ensured by the many via a DAO
The decision to censor a specific video content or not will be taken by the community following the principles of a DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization). A combination between an algorithm that analyses the ratio between likes and dislikes and a report button will be used to classify content as potentially inappropriate or harmful, and a proposal will be submitted on the DAO for the community to vote if the content should remain or it should be removed, as the platform matures, and the DAO gathers relevant quorum. This will be one of the first actions of the DAO — to define relevant quorum to kickstart and fully release its own powers.
If the vote will result in removing the content, the address used for upload will be blacklisted therefore removing the ability for that address to upload content in the future which in itself should act as a deterrent for creators to not upload harmful content in the first place.
From the start users will be able to report any content and to avoid abuse and misuse of this action, each reporting action will have a fee which will be used to reward the DAO members that will actively take part in content quality control and definition.
REWARD SYSTEM & ECONOMICS
Kavarii puts its users and the interaction between content creators and video consumers in the center of focus and makes this interaction more humane, instant, almost tangible.
The second major innovation after the use of NFT technology to achieve decentralization and full ownership of the content for the creator, is the social economy aspect of using cryptocurrency as our native currency. The KVRI token will be a publicly traded asset that fuels the entire ecosystem, and is paid to content creators with each like, subscribe and “Tip” which is unique to the Kavarii platform, hence the audience gets to, truly and directly support its favorite content while.
This allows Creators to start earning with their very first “like” and “subscribe” while maintaining platform integrity by having by default ZERO advertisements.
The users will benefit from any interaction with their favorite content. Not only will they support their favorite creators but there will be a point-based system where any interaction such as subscribing to a channel, like a video or bring other users to the platform will be rewarded with points which can be exchanged for the KVRI token.
Focusing on user experience, Kavarii will be by default advertisement free.
This of course doesn’t include any branding deals or paid advertisements that a content creator chooses to promote inside their own videos.
Even if in the future its decided that introducing ads will increase the revenue for both the content creator and users this will never be introduced by force. Meaning that an user will never have to click through an advertisement to watch a video and each user will have the option to be rewarded for any advertisement content he accepts to see, from a previously and constantly updated self-customized list of interests.
OPPORTUNITIES
Because the technology that powers the platform is NFT, it enables interesting use cases such as a built-in stock video market where anyone can choose to enable the buy option for some video content and anyone interested in using that video for marketing materials, within their business or any other use can do so instantly in a few clicks after watching the content. The principle would be similar with “Shutterstock” but for videos.
Other use cases would be to allow access to tutorials and courses based on whitelisting the participants addresses and NFT based diplomas to be issued with personalized traits for participant based on their specific result or for Kavarii to support access to live events based on an NFT ticket.
The list could go on and based on the feedback from DAO members and creators and their specific content, such as videos, tutorials, documentaries, movies, or others, Kavarii will be flexible with their needs and provide personalized publishing tools which would extend from shared revenue with the users for some content to “pay per view” or others.
THE FUTURE IS HERE
Kavarii is designed to be a Social Economic Platform that promotes freedom of speech while being censorship resistant. We are building the platform from the ground up ensuring decentralization and full ownership for the creator but also focusing on equal opportunity for the creators that are just starting out, enabling them to start earning from their first uploaded video while also rewarding the users for being part of the platform.
We touched on a few potential opportunities to emphasize that we will always remain flexible to the needs of both content creators and users, and we will introduce only the tools that are needed, helpful, increases the chances of success for creators while we maintain a smooth and rewarding experience for the users.
