Key Facts For Investors / Verasity Token Sale Participants

This an illustrative article to help potential VERA token sale participants understand the potential development of the Verasity blockchain ecosystem and how it will impact the landscape in which token holders will operate in.

What is the market opportunity?

Online video is experiencing exponential growth as internet capacity and device penetration has reached a level to support comparable viewing experiences to TV.

A Cisco report expects 82% of all consumer internet traffic to be video by 2021. It is therefore expected that the annual value of online video’s total addressable market (TAM) will be approximately $312B.

Verasity is a suite of blockchain enhanced video platform technologies designed to supercharge the online video ecosystem by enabling a direct and transparent relationship between viewers, content creators and advertisers.

Verasity’s high performance blockchain enables a transparent economy powered by a new micropayment capable token called VERA (VRA), as well as the ability to eliminate fake advertising and content views with patent pending Proof-of-View (PoV™) technology.

Verasity brings evolutionary changes in consumer dynamics:

• Viewers are rewarded in VERA for watching content
• Advertisers compensate viewers directly for their attention
• Verasity Proof-of-View (PoV)™ technology provides accurate/auditable metrics eliminating fake views
• All commercial interactions are made directly between the participants — removing traditional intermediary companies, and generating more revenue for the participants
• The Verasity Spark Marketplace provides a way for content creators to fund their channel expansion and for consumers to participate in the commercial success of their favorite content creators/publishers

The VERA coin facilitates the commercial interactions between all participants with a secure fast micropayment mechanism that keeps all the value generated flowing inside the community.

Unlike competitive systems that focus on cost reduction over video quality for content distribution, Verasity puts the quality of the viewing experience at the top of the list. Verasity partners with the largest content distribution network in the industry, Akamai, and has recruited industry leaders to the team to ensure that we leverage the latest TV quality video distribution technologies available in the market. This mechanism removes issues around copyrighted / illegal content and the quality concerns that occur in consumer (Peer-to-peer) distributed content systems.

How does Verasity differentiate itself from other competitors?

• Verasity has an established team with decades of experience working in video distribution, ad-tech, media and publishing. The team have held leadership positions before in global companies such as Eurosport, Akamai, Diagonal View, AOL, Turner, Guardian Media Group etc
• Established tech and a video player that has already been tested at scale over 8 PetaBytes of data in a month
• Verasity is also one of the few companies to have completed the SICOP compliance for our token sale which provides an additional level of scrutiny for investors
• Our player is already live and working — you can try it for yourself today
• Our economy has been stress tested by Professors of Economics at Cryptecon (Center for Cryptoeconomics) — see the economic whitepaper
• We are not using Peer-to-peer video distribution. CDN delivery is far more reliable and provides a high quality viewer experience globally which is essential for platform adoption. Delivering video on a CDN also allows Verasity to adhere to copyright takedown requests which Peer-to-peer networks would struggle to comply with and would in turn lead to legal challenges for the platform and put the whole economy and ecosystem at risk
• We have patent pending Proof-of-View (PoV™) technology that tackles fake views, bots and ad-fraud. Our technology will level the playing field for content creators, improve content recommendation for viewers, and improve advertiser confidence in the platform
• Verasity’s Spark Marketplace allows viewers and users to buy smart contracts in creator channels — they then receive a share on a creator’s on-going success. This not only creates a true community involvement but facilitates content creator growth on the platform
• Verasity is building a proprietary blockchain based on the Graphene framework that can theoretically support over 100,000 transactions per second. This allows Verasity to scale our microtransactions to a global scale and helps us safeguard the platform, economy and ecosystem
• Viewers choose whether they want to watch advertising and if they do they’ll get paid in VERA directly by advertisers for their attention. This provides viewers a choice of how they fund their VERA accounts
• Verasity will have more unified monetization options for creators than any other existing video sharing platform at present including donations, pay-per-view, subscriptions and the Spark Marketplace. This provides an environment where more types of content can succeed with Verasity

Who are the core team?

David Orman — CEO and Co-Founder
Spent last 10+ years investing, advising and working in video technology businesses. Previously VP at Joost, Eurosport Sales Director. Co-Founder of Hatch-House Venture Consultancy

Scott Brown — Project and Video Network Expert
VP Product Management, Akamai Technologies; CEO, Octoshape; VP Technology Fellow, Turner Broadcasting; Director Media Systems, AOL

David Rowe — Co-founder Verasity
Founder Hydro66, CEO Black Green Capital, Founder Easynet Group that was sold to BSkyB, Former Managing Board Member, Sky

Chris Gale — Co-Founder Verasity
Founder and CEO of Ad Tech Company, Odyssey Mobile which successfully exit to Phunware in 2014 who later listed on the Nasdaq in 2018. Crypto Investor and Blockchain Advisor. 15 Years of digital media and technology

Adam Simmons — Co-founder Verasity
Worked for the last 8 years within online video, including globally for eSports publishers. Expertise within Content management and online marketing

John Rankin — Business Development
Video publishing and advertising entrepreneur. John founded and built a global video advertising business with multinational entertainment company Outfit 7, creators of hit mobile app Talking Tom which received 7 billion downloads

Kyrylo Bybyk — Lead Engineer, Blockchain Developer
High-load C/C++ developer with 11 years of experience. Strong background working with online video platforms with high traffic volumes. Co-inventor of Proof of View (PoV)™, patent pending

Dr. Christian Jaag — Economics Advisor
Founded the Centre for Cryptoeconomics and is responsible for the economics for this project. Managing Partner, Swiss Economics and Lecturer at the Universities of St.Gallen and Zürich. He advises corporate and public-sector clients on strategic issues pertaining to Blockchain technology and cryptoeconomics

Chris Morof — Senior Engineer
Ex. CTO Video Ad Platform, Creator of VRSynapse, Founder of Beacon Heaven, Blockchain Expert

Ievgen Iegorochkin — Blockchain Developer
Experience working with online video platforms with high traffic volumes. Blockchain developer. High-load back-end C/C++ developer. Application Security Engineer

Dmytro Medianik — High-load back-end developer and security engineer
High-load back-end C/C++ developer. Security/operations engineer with 10 years of experience. PJSC Nord, IT Director

The Verasity Incentive Structure

In order to work as intended, the Verasity protocol is designed with an inherent incentive structure to ensure positive contributions from participants to the platform/ecosystem. Combined with both fiscal and monetary policies, Verasity is positioned for success in both the Token Economy and Ecosystem usage.

What is the purpose of the token?

VERA is a cryptographically secured digital coin which will be created and used within the Verasity video sharing ecosystem and economy, as well as being verified on the Verasity Blockchain. VERA are the method of payment within Verasity ecosystem.

General understanding of platform participants

On the Verasity platform there are five types of platform participants.

Verafiers™

Verafiers™ are the participants who download the VERA Wallet allowing them to witness block creation and verify transactions on the Verasity blockchain. These participants are critical to running the platform and are elected by the community. Verafiers™ receive rewards from the Verasity platform in VERA for their services to the platform.

Viewers

Viewers are the participants who watch videos on the platform. Anyone who registers on the Verasity platform, and sets up their wallet, will be able to purchase VERA. If a viewer chooses to watch advertising they will also earn VERA, paid directly to them by the advertiser which is sent to their VERA wallet.

Viewers interact directly with creators, publishers, and advertisers. Viewers are rewarded VERA through positive actions on the platform but can also purchase VERA to pay creators for their content. All participants use VERA to donate, and unlock videos or subscriptions.

Creators and Publishers

Creators and Publishers upload video content onto the Verasity platform. These participants may also be viewers but that‘s not a requirement to upload video. Creators and publishers earn VERA directly from Viewers who can pay via donations, pay-per-view and subscriptions. Creators and Publishers control how their videos are monetized and the price of their content.

Creators have personal upload limits. For those who add value to the economy and ecosystem, they shouldn’t find themselves reaching the upload limit. Successful mass production creators may need to spend VERA to upload if they exceed their limit. However, as their content generates proceeds from viewers the Creator should earn more than the upload cost in VERA. Creators who upload large amounts of content which do not drive interaction within the ecosystem will need to spend VERA to continue to upload.

Advertisers

Advertisers are the participants who buy and spend VERA in the Verasity ecosystem to reach their audience, the Viewers. Advertisers set their budget and define their target audience. Every time an advert is successfully viewed, VERA gets deducted from the Advertiser wallet and distributed to Viewers’ wallets.

Spark Marketplace Users

Spark Marketplace is another unique part of the economy. Content creators and publishers can sell a part of their content channel. This is a form of crowdfunding creator’s channels and is another form of financing for content creators. The purchaser in the Spark Marketplace will receive a portion of the revenue stream of that channel. Participants will be able to buy and sell the stakes (VeraSparks) through the Spark Marketplace.

The Spark Marketplace mechanism provides ‘VERA Holders’ a way to take part in the economy without the need to watch or upload videos. VERA Holders are additionally incentivised to hold Spark Marketplace stakes for periods between 3 to 9 months. This provides stability to the economy by enticing VERA Holders to participate in the economy.

Please note: Spark Marketplace is presently not planned to be available to VERA token-holders in the US and certain other jurisdictions where it is restricted by law.

Economics and Safeguards

What are the token economics?

Cryptecon, a Swiss cryptocurrency economy analyst firm, have modelled and stress tested Verasity’s economy. Verasity has a monetary policy that implements an algorithm to ensure that an inflation rate of 3% is targeted. Fiscal policy is implemented through the Spark Marketplace incentivising VERA holders to hold stakes as described above. By combining Monetary and Fiscal policy, Verasity aims to manage a sustainable economy. Token supply is based on the velocity of VERA transactions within the ecosystem. The algorithms and logic to achieve these targets are described in the Verasity economic whitepaper.

What are the consensus mechanisms?

The Verasity Graphene based blockchain utilises a Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) consensus algorithm. Representatives from the community verify/sign new blocks — on Verasity, these representatives are known as ‘Verafiers™’.

Users who hold VERA elect Verafiers™. The more VERA you hold, the more influence you have to decide upon the elected Verafiers™. To incentivise block creation, Verafiers™ get rewarded for their services to the platform. If a bad actor doesn’t produce validated blocks, they are not rewarded and get voted out by other VERA holders. This ensures that the value of the token cannot be eroded over time.

Proof-of-Work cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum are a secure and decentralized means of sending money, but are difficult to use in a commercial economy due to their fees and speed to gain consensus when their networks are under stress. Delegated Proof of Stake blockchain projects like Verasity allow fast and secure transactions to enable micro-payments.

Token Distribution

Expected Token Allocation

• Total Supply: 12,491,500,000
• Total Sale Allocation: 50% (6,245,750,000)
• Proposed Raise: $25m
• Core Team tokens are locked in until Jan 2020
• Tokens held by the Foundation are used for operating expenditure, growing the team, purchasing technology, licensing technology, incentivizing creator/publisher adoption, operating the reward pool, and maintaining the stabilization fund (should it be necessary)
• Referral tokens are for ICO promotion and platform adoption promotion
• Unspent referral tokens are placed in the reward pool and stabilization fund

Scalability and Performance

Verasity is building its blockchain on the high performance Open Source C++ Graphene Blockchain Framework. Graphene can theoretically scale to over 100,000 transactions per second. Major credit card providers currently process around 2,000 transactions per second. The technology can also confirm transactions in three seconds or less. This makes it incredibly efficient compared to many other blockchains.

Verasity will accommodate billions of video views from internet users. Graphene enables Verasity to record all view transactions during average and peak volume times. This kind of scale currently isn’t feasible on networks such as Ethereum or Bitcoin which can result in prolonged transaction confirmation times when their networks are at capacity.

What are the strengths of the Verasity Network?

The Graphene Blockchain Framework Verasity is building upon can scale to over 100,000 transactions per second. Major credit card providers currently process around 2,000 transactions per second. Verasity’s Delegated Proof of Stake blockchain enables fast transactions — which don’t result in exorbitant energy costs. By allowing the community to elect Verafiers™, and having decentralized nodes all around the world, Verasity is secure against bad actors.

Miner/Node Analysis

Verasity will run at least 4 backup Verafier™ nodes in key regions (North America, South America, Europe and Asia Pacific). These nodes guarantee resilience against infrastructure outages and verify transactions until third-party Verafiers™ are voted in and then act as a backup to ensure transactions are always verified.

Geographic dispersion

Verasity recognizes that geographic dispersion is key to mitigating political, legal, economic, infrastructural and other operational risks. Wide geographic dispersion of nodes ensures that no one entity will be able to harm the development of the network. Verasity will endeavour to provide its services across 150 countries and actively encourage geographic dispersion of nodes.

Concentration of nodes

The backup Verafier™ nodes described above will be labeled in the blockchain code and on the site. Users will be urged to vote for Verafiers™ not controlled by the Verasity Foundation as soon as possible. The idea will be to transition to a diverse set of trusted and independent Verafiers™ as soon as possible.

VERA holders vote in Verafiers™. The total number of Verafiers™ in the economy are dictated by the number of Verafiers™ required so that the majority of votes are utilized. In practice, this means that if the majority of voters vote for 20 Verafiers™, 20 Verafiers™ get elected. The only exception to this is if the majority of the votes go to less than the smallest number of Verafiers™ required. In this case the top (x) Verafiers™ by the vote count are then elected.

This approach maintains an appropriate number of Verafiers™ to keep the system decentralized.

What is Verasity’s budget capacity?

Verasity has additional financing in place from our co-founder investors to continue the development of the platform and ecosystem.

What does the development roadmap look like?

Verasity’s team has a strong track record of delivering milestones on-time:

• Founders identified opportunity for blockchain based video platform and began their investigations — Delivered
• Verasity adapted an existing white label UDP video player and CDN which has proven scale — Delivered
• UDP Video Player technology is built into Chromium and TCP fall-back is integrated into the player for seamless use on non-UDP enabled browsers — Delivered
• UDP video player tested with Akamai at 30m+ unique users per month — Delivered
• Assemble core team and advisors — Delivered
• Write and validate white paper — Delivered
• Investigation into blockchain ledger — Delivered
• Creation of Foundation structure — Delivered
• Release VeraPlayer™ prototype — Delivered
• Announcement of project, publish white paper — Delivered
• Launch Public sale website — Ongoing
• Fundraise through private sale — Ongoing

For the rest of 2018 Verasity will be focussing on the following:

• Launch public sale
• Release wallet prototype
• Expand team of engineers
• Release and test Verasity Blockchain
• Release VeraWallet
• Convert VERA ERC20 sale tokens onto Verasity’s proprietary blockchain
• Launch CMS and Analytics
• Launch beta of consumer platform to a select group of creators
• Launch VeraPay

In 2019 we plan to:

• Launch the full version of the video sharing website
• Launch the Spark Marketplace
• Add advertising as a monetization option for creators

In 2020 we plan to:

• Launch our mobile apps
• Scale the platform to 15m VeraWallet holders

You can keep track of our roadmap on the official Verasity website.

Join our community:

If you want to join the conversation about Verasity then please follow our various accounts below!

Website: https://verasity.io

Telegram: http://t.me/verasitychat

Twitter: https://twitter.com/verasitytech

Facebook: https://facebook.com/verasitytech

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/verasity

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/verasity

Verasity is a leading video platform providing unique Rewarded Player Technology to major publishers across the globe.

Our patent pending Rewards-as-a-Service (RaaS) Player enables VRA rewards, monetization and loyalty schemes within the player wallet. Our player technology is already available to 280,000 publishers with 240 million users and 50 billion monthly views. This brings engagement, audiences and revenues back to publisher sites. Our attention-based model creates a thriving VRA token economy between viewers, publishers and advertisers.

Verasity is the future of online video — Reach, Reward, Retain.