BitTorrent launches BTT token for faster downloads and more

BitTorrent announced a token “that aims to expand upon its vision of a decentralized internet.” A summary of the press release has been posted in the BitTorrent blog.

It can be argued that, at this moment, BitTorrent IS the decentralized internet. In fact, a decentralized internet would work like BitTorrent: All content would be streamed not by central servers, but by the users themselves.

Many projects are developing building blocks for a decentralized internet, which would handle dynamic content like BitTorrent handles static files, but no solid alternative to today’s centralized internet has emerged so far. But there is an operational decentralized platform for static large files like movies, and that platform is BitTorrent.

It’s worth noting that BitTorrent now belongs to TRON, the company founded by ambitious blockchain entrepreneur Justin Sun, who is now CEO of BitTorrent. The two companies are focusing on Project Atlas (the url now redirects to the new token), which will connect the BitTorrent P2P network and the TRON blockchain network. It’s also worth noting that BitTorrent’s creator, Bram Cohen, is building a next-gen cryptocurrency.

The BitTorrent token (BTT) will be issued by BitTorrent Foundation, established in Singapore. Initially, BTT holders will be able to trade tokens for faster downloads. In the BitTorrent network, a file can be downloaded very fast when many connected users have a copy of the file, and typically a large movie file can be downloaded in minutes if many users have a copy.

But downloading less popular files may take much longer, and here’s where the BTT will help. Though a detailed concept of operation hasn’t been unveiled yet — TRON and BitTorrent plan to provide more details at niTROn Summit on January 17–18 in San Francisco — the BTT white paper notes that users will pay in BTT for faster downloads, and/or receive compensation in BTT for serving files.

The BTT “is the first in a series of steps to support a decentralized internet,” said Sun.

“In one giant leap, the BitTorrent client can introduce blockchain to hundreds of millions of users around the world and empower a new generation of content creators with the tools to distribute their content directly to others on the web.”

BTT, which features native TRC-10 compatibility, will be first implemented in the µTorrent app. The token will be exclusively available to non-U.S. accounts on Binance Launchpad, the token sale platform operated by cryptocurrency exchange Binance.

Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao said:

“We created Launchpad to help entrepreneurs launch their best projects and bring more use cases to the industry. BitTorrent is a decentralized project by nature, with a large user base, that is now adding a new token economy to their use case. Through Launchpad, BitTorrent will have greater access to resources across the Binance ecosystem. This will be a case study for existing projects.”

The possibility to speed up downloads with BTT, and the possibility to be compensated in BTT for serving files, are certainly very useful, and BTT is likely to become widely used in the BitTorrent network. But this seems only a first step toward next-generation applications. A possible application that immediately comes to mind is allowing all creators to sell their work directly in the BitTorrent network.

Picture from Cory Doctorow/Flickr.