The BitTorrent network just released a new coin, BTT. The network allows you to swiftly and efficiently download files from the Internet. Every month, nearly 170 million users use the protocol.
It is crucial to differentiate BitTorrent, the original peer-to-peer protocol, from BTT, the cryptocurrency used as a monetary incentive.
BitTorrent
BitTorrent is an online peer-to-peer file-sharing protocol. As a blockchain, BitTorrent is a decentralized system. How it works:
Torrents are files hosted by seeds. Seeds host torrents and divide them up into chunks so you can download them faster. When you download a BitTorrent file, you get parts from numerous seeds. You can choose to become a seed to support the network during and after the download. Not seeding makes you a leech. BitTorrent relies on sources to survive; hence leeching is forbidden.
A swarm is a network of uploaders (seeds) and downloaders for a file. BitTorrent’s distributed architecture makes it easier to upload and download huge files while reducing network congestion.
BTT Coin
BitTorrent predates the BTT token. You can still use the free protocol without a token. The project’s whitepaper states:
A liquid market of service requestors and service providers uses BTT as a general-purpose method for trading computing resources. The development team also introduces BitTorrent Speed. The original protocol has no financial incentive to seed; swarms often die off. BitTorrent Speed pays users who seed after downloading a file to remedy this issue.
With BTT, you may also buy priority access to seeds, file availability, and use of others’ resources. The BTT implementation’s eventual goal is to make BitTorrent a content distribution, decentralized storage, and proxy environment.
There are 990,000,000,000 BTT available, of which:
- 20% given to TRON Foundation.
- 19.9% stick with BitTorrent.
- 19% with BitTorrent team and foundation.
- 17% in private, public, and seed sales.
- A six-year Tron airdrop campaign accounts for 10%.
- 10% are BitTorrent airdrops.
- 4% are marks of partnership.
Team & Progress
He created BitTorrent in April 2001 and upgraded it in 2013. Tron founder Justin Sun paid $120 million for BitTorrent in June 2018 to develop Tron’s Project Atlas. Cohen left the company, as did numerous other original employees.
BitTorrent raised $7.2 million after the acquisition through Binance’s Launchpad program.
The two decentralized companies’ merger is still in the works. BitTorrent Speed isn’t yet accessible, but the developer says it will be this quarter. Also, BitTorrent Live, a live video streaming service, accepts beta testers. But the team hasn’t announced a release date.
Competition and Trading
Tron and BitTorrent have over 100 million users, making this the most popular peer-to-peer file-sharing technology.
Also known as Upfiring, it is a blockchain-based file- Unlike BitTorrent, Upfiring encrypts every file seeder’s host. With so many uses for file sharing, both should thrive.
BitTorrent had a good year in 2019. BTT started at $0.00012 and, after some erratic trade, finished at approximately $0.0008.
The price continued rising in mid-May, reaching an all-time high of $0.0018 in late May. No news appears to be associated with this run-up to chalk it to the price simply following the market. The BTT price is now around $0.00134, ten times higher than during its ICO.
If you’re investing, keep an eye out for Speed and Live. Both of these items could increase the price.
Verdict
BTT is a TRC-10 token on the Tron network. Therefore, it can be stored in any TRX wallet. Tron’s official website promotes a variety of community-made wallets.
Besides KIN (which will probably fail), BitTorrent is the most comprehensive attempt to tokenize a successful network. On the surface, introducing a seeder token makes sense. We won’t know for sure till Speed and other features like Live are available. Until then, it’s just altcoin roulette.
