Theta is a decentralized peer-to-peer video streaming platform. It was launched in March 2018 by Mitch Liu and Jieyi Long, two gaming and video industry enthusiasts, and is also advised by Justin Kan, co-founder of Twitch, and Steve Chen, co-founder of Youtube. The network aims to drastically change the streaming industry and to deliver quality content at a low price while giving users fair and easy access to it.
Theta is an open-source software that supports smart contracts and dApps. It is powered by three types of nodes: Enterprise Validator Nodes, Guardian Nodes, and Edge Node. Enterprise Validator Nodes are companies, including Google and Samsung, that can process transactions by staking and are controlled by Guardian Nodes which check the accuracy of their block proposals. The ecosystem operates with two native tokens: TFUEL, which is used for transaction costs and as a reward for Edge Node consisting of users sharing their bandwidth, and THETA, which is used as a governance and staking token. THETA holders mostly benefit from staking, as the coin is based on the PoS BFT mechanism, and get engagement rewards.
The Theta Network announced that it is planning on releasing a new TNT-20 token, TDROP, in February 2022. TDROP will be used on the ThetaDrop platform, Theta-powered NFT marketplace. The new token will act as a governance token and encourage NFT liquidity mining.