SingularDTV, the SNGLS DAO, SNGLS 2.0 and BREAKER
The Next Phase of the Decentralized Entertainment Industry
Zach LeBeau, CEO — SingularDTV
SingularDTV is laying the foundation for a decentralized entertainment industry. The SNGLS Media Distribution Protocol is the industry’s open-source protocol. SNGLS 2.0 is a SNGLS token upgrade that runs the protocol. The SNGLS DAO governs the protocol. BREAKER is the protocol’s first DApp. Entech is the convergence of entertainment and blockchain technologies.
The SingularDTV Mission
SingularDTV’s mission is the creation of a decentralized entertainment industry powered by blockchain technology. The year 2020 represents an exciting new phase in achieving this goal — the launch of the SNGLS Media Distribution Protocol.
The SNGLS Protocol is intended to operate as the layer in which various entertainment DApps and services can create and sustain a decentralized entrainment marketplace. Breaker will be the first DApp to launch on the SNGLS Protocol.
There are 5 major participants in the SNGLS Protocol. They include, 1.) users, 2.) content creators, 3.) validators, 4.) developers and 5.) third party service providers. For more information on SingularDTV’s SNGLS Protocol and the DAO that governs it, read the SNGLS DAO “working whitepaper”.
The following is less a distillation of the SNGLS DAO working whitepaper and more of an account of the various parts necessary to laying the foundation for a decentralized entertainment industry.
What is “Entech”?
Entech is the convergence of entertainment technology and blockchain technology. Blockchain and its tenets are so incongruent to how the legacy entertainment industry operates, we believe that decentralizing entertainment will result in the birth of an entirely new industry.
SingularDTV — SNGLS Protocol — SNGLS 2.0 — SNGLS DAO — Breaker
The birth of a new industry is complex and includes many moving parts. The following is a breakdown of how SingularDTV, the SNGLS Protocol, SNGLS 2.0, the SNGLS DAO and Breaker fit together.
SingularDTV
Everything begins with SingularDTV. It is the creator, instigator and usher for a decentralized entertainment industry powered by blockchain technology.
In the beginning, SingularDTV postulated the creation of what basically amounted to a minimum viable product (MVP) that would prove the following, 1.) that rights management of entertainment IP on the blockchain was possible and more efficient than the legacy systems, 2.) that this IP and/or its usage rights could be distributed to audiences around the world via a distribution portal and 3.) a documentary on blockchain technology and a sci-fi TV series would serve as real-world use cases for the creation of 1 and 2.
In October 2016, $7.5m in ETH was raised to prove the above points. Through sound decision-making and fortunate market forces, SingularDTV stretched its $7.5m well beyond the original scope of the MVP and devised the blue-print for the ignition of a decentralized entertainment industry.
Had we converted the ETH into USD — like so many other now defunct companies did — the delivery of our MVP would have come and gone — and we’d be engaged in raising another round of funding to iterate on and expand upon what we learned.
To put it into perspective, how much can be done with $7.5m when taking on an industry where giants like Netflix, Amazon and Apple spend billions a year on market dominance? While SingularDTV has little realistic hope of raising billions anytime soon to compete with legacy entertainment industry leaders, we do have a plan to lay the foundation for a decentralized entertainment industry based on the valuable information learned from our MVP.
Tokit launched in late 2017 and served as the beta for our rights management gateway. Much of what was learned from Tokit was improved upon and incorporated into the Breaker beta. We released our Breaker beta in early 2019, proving that rights management of entertainment IP on the blockchain was possible and more efficient than the legacy system and that this IP and/or its usage rights could be distributed to audiences around the world via a distribution portal. We produced the blockchain documentary, “Trust Machine”, to serve as a use case to create the tech and various processes. And while we haven’t yet produced the sci-fi series, we have produced several other films, and acquired several other mediums of entertainment — film, tv, music, etc. — to build and inform our rights management and distribution technology.
What was true for the MVP, and what we believe is true for the foundation of a decentralized entertainment industry, is the exact same thing at its core — it’s all about revolutionizing the administration, distribution and rights management of entertainment IP. Of course the blue-print calls for much more than just laying the core foundation of rights management on the blockchain, it also requires SingularDTV to recruit artists, creators and content, convert legacy entertainment players and processes to this new alternative industry, while attracting service providers to help enable its adoption, all existing on a protocol governed by a system that facilitates the growth and policies of a nascent decentralized entertainment industry, based on nascent blockchain technology and theoretical and hypothetical postulations that have yet to be proven because they have never existed before. Complex stuff!
The SNGLS Protocol
The SNGLS Protocol, also known by its long name of the SNGLS Media Distribution Protocol, is the programmable layer on which the decentralized entertainment industry will operate.
The SNGLS protocol is intended to essentially be the “operating system” for the future of decentralized entertainment. Because of its open source construct, enterprises other than SingularDTV can help develop, administer and service the protocol.
Other DApps and services that can be built on the SNGLS protocol are UI storefronts like Breaker, entertainment-based equity crowdfunding platforms (what Tokit.io can become in the future when the US regulatory framework matures), infrastructural and technical services — everything from transcoding and storage to rendering, VR, etc. — and a wide variety of B2B and B2C entertainment related innovations and services.
SNGLS 2.0
An upgrade from SNGLS to SNGLS 2.0 has been on the drawing board since the SNGLS token generation event (TGE) of October, 2016. The happenings of 2017 and 2018 have been crucial in informing the specific features and functions that are to be included in a SNGLS 2.0 upgrade. Some of these considerations will be mentioned in more detail below.
It is intended for a 1 : 1 swap from SNGLS to SNGLS 2.0 to occur in 2020. The roll-out schedule will be determined by various legal, regulatory and compliance timelines.
The SNGLS DAO
The SNGLS DAO will be the non-profit governance layer of the SNGLS Protocol. It will be established by SingularDTV as an independent and objective organization to guide the development of the SNGLS Protocol. It’s number one objective will be to uphold the tenets of decentralization and instill them into the programming of the protocol.
Until it becomes self-sustaining, the SNGLS DAO will subsist on grants and/or loans of SNGLS and ETH from SingularDTV and other entities.
It is envisioned for the administrative structure of the SNGLS DAO Foundation to be made up of technologists, entertainment executives, SNGLS token holders, etc.
BREAKER & the Industry’s Biggest Challenge
Breaker will be the first DApp to exist on the SNGLS Protocol. It is a blockchain rights management and distribution portal for digital multimedia. It’s purpose is to solve the biggest problem that exists in the legacy entertainment industry — a disorganized, inefficient and corrupted administration and distribution of entertainment IP.
This IP problem has been solved in theory by the data-network convergence the blockchain allows for and solved in-practice by the technology and processes SingularDTV has developed. SingularDTV has created and is in the process of patenting the process of programmatically embedding IP into data vessels (tokens) on the blockchain along with its required distribution infrastructure.
Because of the many other moving parts I mentioned previously, it will take time to establish a decentralized entertainment industry. We’ve built the engine of the car and a few other important parts, but we still need wheels, a steering column, chassis, oh, and the roads to drive on. Amazon didn’t become a multi-billion dollar behemoth overnight. No, it required years of pioneering new technologies as well as training a generation of users to learn and form new habits of how to shop and consume.
SNGLS 2.0 & the Regulatory Minefield
Creating a decentralized entertainment industry is a regulatory minefield. The technology and innovations that solve the IP ownership and distribution problems of the legacy entertainment industry — which also happen to cut out the intermediaries that extract value from artists, creators and audiences — require adherence to legacy regulatory guidelines that are hopelessly outdated. This means we are ahead of our time and need to wait for regulators to catch up.
We want to see SNGLS 2.0 everywhere, including Bittrex and Coinbase, accessible and friendly to all jurisdictions of the world — a real, pure protocol token (more on this concept later), similar to how ETH functions as the gas that runs the Ethereum protocol. This next phase of SingularDTV and SNGLS 2.0 is being designed to achieve this. As I have written several times before, the ideal is for SNGLS tokens to be the gas that powers every transaction of the decentralized entertainment industry.
Maximum community engagement and industry participation with the SNGLS 2.0 tokenized ecosystem is essential. Many of the regulatory guidelines that exist today were not in place when SNGLS was devised. But recent steps by the USA, Switzerland and others to make specific and concrete determinations on crypto currency, crypto assets, utility tokens and other coin and token classifications have helped inform the course SingularDTV is taking with SNGLS 2.0.
SNGLS 2.0 will not contain a revenue claim feature. To attempt to outfit SNGLS 2.0 with a revenue claim would make the growth and potential of the SNGLS tokenized ecosystem a hostage to the remaining regulatory ambiguity in the near to mid-term. Regulators in the few jurisdictions with the framework to support the issuance of security tokens have been slow to review and approve applications to issue such tokens. As such, it could take several years for a clear pathway to be defined to securitize SNGLS tokens in the USA, Switzerland and elsewhere.
If the revenue claim feature is considered legally and/or strategically advantageous or obligatory, it could be included in a future upgrade, i.e. SNGLS 3.0, as long as the US and Swiss regulatory framework exists to administer it. A revenue claim could also be enacted through the issuance of a separate security token that is distributed to SNGLS token holders via a rigorous KYC process. This remains to be seen and will only happen through abiding by the regulatory process of the jurisdictions SingularDTV and its various moving parts operate in.
I estimate it will be a few more years before a clear process is established and executed by regulatory bodies regarding the issuance of security tokens in a manner that could benefit SNGLS token holders. Numerous entities from exchanges to private interests are working on this issue with lobbyists, consultants and regulatory experts to educate regulators and speed things up. Until then, SNGLS 2.0 will be dedicated to the re-invigoration of the SNGLS tokenized ecosystem and the growth of the SNGLS protocol with the overall goal of mass adoption.
Next Steps
Today, September 3, 2019, we have released the working whitepaper to the public. But unlike most other whitepapers, we’re not asking you to invest your money — we’re asking you to invest your time and passion by sharing your intelligence, insights and wisdom in public discussions on what we consider to be the future of the entertainment industry. Over the coming months we will invite your input on matters ranging from the prosaic to the daedalic and all we ask is that you keep the discussions civil, respectful and productive. In return, we promise to keep an open mind, to fight against the self-serving and confirmation biases that too often infect such discussions and to make the whole process as open and transparent as good sense — and our lawyers — will allow.
Important Links
Whitepaper: https://github.com/SingularDTV/snglsdao-whitepaper
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SNGLSDAO
Forum: https://forum.snglsdao.io/
