BitTorrent-New

What is BitTorrent (BTT)?

BitTorrent is a file transfer protocol that soared to prominence in the early part of the 2000s, a decade that saw the birth of cryptocurrency in the wake of one of history’s worst global financial meltdowns.

BitTorrent, however, had nothing to do with cryptocurrency at the time. Rather than serving as a peer-to-peer medium of exchange, it allowed millions of people across the world to share files with each other.

BitTorrent’s protocol was groundbreaking in that it worked in a distributed manner and downloaded pieces of files from multiple users simultaneously. In 2005, it accounted for as much as a third of all internet traffic.

Despite providing a practically priceless service to many users for a long time, BitTorrent was never effectively able to monetize its services. While this is a problem faced by many eCommerce operations, the situation eventually led to BitTorrent’s acquisition by the Tron Foundation in 2019.

This acquisition gave the legendary P2P file-sharing service a way to enter another P2P domain—blockchain and cryptocurrency. Following the acquisition, BitTorrent was able to launch its own cryptocurrency, BTT, on the TRON blockchain.

This original cryptocurrency was renamed BTTOLD after BitTorrent’s 2021 migration to BitTorrent Chain (BTTC), with its new token taking up the ticker BTT. BitTorrent Chain aims to provide a superior package of performance, scalability, and low costs to decentralized app (dApp) users.

When Was BitTorrent Launched?

BitTorrent was launched in 2001 and rose to prominence quickly as a way for users to share files in a decentralized manner. It is a legitimate file transfer protocol and is fully legal as long as the content being uploaded and downloaded can be done so legally.

However, many users have used the service to share files without the copyright owner’s permission. As a result, more than 200,000 users were sued in the United States between 2010 and 2011 for downloading copyrighted materials.

BitTorrent hit a peak of popularity around 2008 but began to decline as internet speeds increased and direct downloads of large files became easier and more commonplace. At the same time, streaming services started to come into prominence.

From 10% of North American download traffic in 2010, BitTorrent’s share of web download bandwidth shrank to 3% in five years. This downward trend and inability to monetize led to BitTorrent’s acquisition by TRON.

Following this acquisition, the BTT token was introduced to the public via an Initial Coin Offering. 6% of the total BTT supply was sold at this ICO, raising $7.2 million. Tokens were also allocated to the Tron Foundation, BitTorrent Foundation, airdrops, partnerships, and the BitTorrent ecosystem.

In late 2021, the BitTorrent Chain mainnet was launched, and BTT tokens were redenominated from TRC10 tokens to TRC20 tokens on the TRON blockchain. The old TRC10 tokens were renamed to BTTOLD, while the new TRC20 tokens took over the BTT ticker symbol.

What are “Torrenting” and Trolls?

It is a mark of immeasurable success when jargon enters the global lexicon, and that’s what happened with the word “torrenting.” Much like “Googling,” torrenting refers to the active use of BitTorrent’s service, in this case, downloading a file via the BitTorrent file transfer protocol.

Trolls, meanwhile, refer to entities that attempt to bring a measure of efficiency to the hunting down and suing of illegal torrenting.

The rafts of lawsuits in the late 2000s and early 2010s were replaced by copyright trolls who are authorized to act on behalf of copyright holders.

The BitTorrent technology reveals the IP addresses of devices connected to a data stream called a torrent. Thanks to this, trolls can identify which addresses download copyrighted files.

Trolls then send settlement letters to internet service providers, who in turn forward these letters to their clients running the identified devices. However, these trolls are not always successful since IP addresses tend not to be considered legal entities.

Who are the Founders of BitTorrent?

BitTorrent was developed and initially released in 2001 by Bram Cohen. Cohen first came up with the idea behind BitTorrent while working for MojoNation, which allowed users to break up confidential files into encrypted chunks and distribute them to other users running the software.

Realizing this concept would be ideal for a file-sharing protocol, Cohen quit MojoNation and began work on BitTorrent. Cohen unveiled his ideas at the first CodeCon conference and wrote the first BitTorrent client in Python.

In 2004, Cohen formed BitTorrent Inc. with his brother Ross Cohen and business partner Ashwin Navin. The company received funding the following year from David Chao of Doll Capital Management, a venture capitalist.

Also in 2005, Cohen and Navin struck a deal with the Motion Picture Association of America to remove links to illegal content on the official BitTorrent website. Included in the deal were the seven largest studios in America, and provisions stated that the site would comply with procedures outlined in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Cohen left BitTorrent Inc. and ended his involvement with the BitTorrent project following its acquisition by TRON. He remained within the blockchain industry, however, going on to found the Chia Network in 2017.

How Does BitTorrent Work?

BitTorrent Chain is a blockchain application platform with a triple-layer structure. These layers include a Root Contracts layer, a Validator layer, and the BitTorrent Chain layer that functions like a sidechain.

The network can be considered a layer 2 protocol for main chains like TRON, BSC, and Ethereum.

Here’s how this triple-layer structure works:

• Root Contracts layer. Root contracts on TRON and other supported blockchain networks like Ethereum support functions of staking and token mapping by performing transactions.
• Validator/Delivery layer. This layer verifies blocks on the BitTorrent Chain and sends checkpoints to the supported blockchain networks. It also comprises a Bridge, which listens to events on each chain and sends event messages, as well as a Consensus module that includes verification of checkpoints and consensus of state-sync and staking events.
• BitTorrent Chain layer. This is the BitTorrent sidechain itself, and mapped assets on multiple chains are involved in transactions safeguarded by a multi-layer confirmation mechanism.

This triple-layered structure focuses on interoperability by connecting the BitTorrent Chain to other blockchains.

It allows cross-chain transactions by allowing users to deposit crypto assets in the BitTorrent Chain contract on supported chains like Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, and TRON.

After making these deposits, users get confirmation and see their tokens appear on the BitTorrent Chain. Tokens can be withdrawn back to the original chain by creating proof of the remaining tokens on the Root Contract.

Thanks to this system, the BitTorrent Chain allows developers to build all kinds of dApps, with the project’s whitepaper specifying that it anticipates decentralized exchange (DEX) dApps, decentralized finance (DeFi) dApps, and games, including those that leverage non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

What Makes BitTorrent Unique?

BitTorrent Chain is unique in that it attempts to address some of the common problems of major blockchains like performance, scalability, and cost while also espousing the principle of blockchain interoperability.

By choosing a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism that narrows validators and block producers down to a narrow pool of nodes, BitTorrent Chain can achieve high throughput and speed.

A large number of transactions are conducted by block producers, and proofs of the blocks they thus create are periodically sent to the main chains. In addition to ramping up speed and throughput, this also ensures low transaction costs.

According to the BitTorrent Chain website, this allows BTTC to handle up to 7,000 transactions per second at a fee of less than $0.01.

BitTorrent Chain is also compatible with other major blockchains to the extent that it offers one-click migration of smart contracts and supports customizable modules.

Beyond all of the capabilities of the BTTC layer 2 network, BitTorrent is also powered by a brand of considerable value. BitTorrent itself is a name that is recognizable the world over, and as a platform, it stood for many of the principles that the cryptocurrency industry now champions.

BitTorrent has over 100 million active users, and the company’s products have been installed on over 1 billion devices in over 138 countries worldwide.

How is the BitTorrent Network Secured?

The BitTorrent Chain is secured by a proof-of-stake mechanism in its Validator layer and a block producer-based mechanism in the BitTorrent Chain layer, followed by checkpoints and a burning proof mechanism for final validation on supporting main chains.

To become a Validator, nodes have to stake BTT in a Root Contract. There are 21 Validators on the network, and rewards include checkpoint submission rewards and transaction fees.

Block producers, meanwhile, are periodically selected from among the Validators. They are responsible for the aggregation of transactions into groups that make up the blocks on the blockchain.

With this consensus structure in place, the BitTorrent Chain is able to achieve a block speed of just 2 seconds.

What is the Use of BTT?

The BitTorrent Token, or BTT, is vital in that it brings together the original BitTorrent project and blockchain technology. It could even be argued that BTT creates a bridge between content creators and their audience and merges the BitTorrent P2P network with its blockchain ecosystem.

To this end, one of the main uses of BTT is to offer market-driven incentives to users to promote collaboration and allow the users to avail themselves of faster downloads on BitTorrent Speed by spending BTT.

Users within the BitTorrent file sharing protocol that accept BTT can be either seeds or peers. Seeds put downloaded files up for sharing on the platform, whereas peers are users with partial copies of the desired files.

BTT is intended to improve BitTorrent’s performance by incentivizing users of the protocol to play fairly or, in simpler terms, seed files for as long as or longer than they spend downloading them.

This incentivization is meant to encourage users to dedicate more of their bandwidth and storage resources in support of the network by keeping files “up” for longer and preventing degradation.

Users also need BTT to become a validator on the BTTC network, participate in decentralized governance, pay for gas fees on the network, and for staking.

Who Controls BitTorrent?

BitTorrent is controlled by BitTorrent Inc., the company founded by Bram Cohen but acquired by TRON while under Justin Sun.

As such, it could be suggested that BitTorrent is now firmly in the hands of TRON. Sun is officially no longer the CEO of TRON and currently serves as a diplomat. In an open letter, he wrote that TRON as a network is now self-sufficient enough to run as a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO).

The BitTorrent Chain is also moving towards decentralized governance with the establishment of the BTTC DAO, which is dedicated to building a more inclusive and collaborative ecosystem for all users.

How Much BTT Is In Circulation?

BTT has a total supply of 990,000,000,000,000 BTT. When BitTorrent Chain went to the mainnet and the tokens were redenominated, the supply was increased via a swap of 1 BTTOLD for 1000 BTT, expanding the supply from its previous figure of 990,000,000,000.

It must be noted that BTTOLD still exists and remains in use for BitTorrent File Sharing mining and increasing download speeds. Contracts to swap BTTOLD for BTT remain active, and users can swap from old to new at any time.

BTT was originally issued as a TRC-10 token on TRON, but with the redenomination saw an upgrade to the TRC-20 standard. Along with this upgrade and the “token split” for a higher supply, BitTorrent Tokens exist on the TRON mainnet but are mapped to the BTTC mainnet.

How Do You Buy BTT?

BTT is a cryptocurrency with a significant profile thanks to its reputation that predates even Bitcoin, and it can be purchased on many major exchanges.

A significant majority of BTT trading is done with the stablecoin USDT, although pairs with other cryptocurrencies can be found.

It’s also possible to purchase BTT on decentralized exchanges (DEX) and in P2P transactions via the BTTC or TRON chains.

Is It Possible to Buy BTT Instantly?

How fast it is to purchase a cryptocurrency depends on where you’re buying it. If you use an on-chain DEX, the speed at which you’ll get your new BTT tokens depends on the speed of the blockchain you’re using. In BTTC’s case, that’s just a few seconds.

Buying a token like BTT on an exchange may seem even faster, with orders filling instantly. Nonetheless, it’s important to remember that the adage “not your keys, not your coins” applies to centralized entities like exchanges (CEX).

This means that even though your account at the CEX says that you own some BTT, the actual tokens are stored in the CEX’s wallet, not yours. As such, the CEX has full control over them, and your tokens are subject to various risks, including exchange hacks and bankruptcy.

Actually withdrawing your BTT into your own wallet may also be a slow process, given that many exchanges need to run KYC (Know Your Customer) and AML (Anti-Money Laundering) procedures before releasing tokens into private wallets.

How Do You Store BTT?

As mentioned, BTT can be stored in private wallets as well as on exchanges. One of the advantages of taking custody of your own coins is that you can participate in network governance yourself if you use the right sort of wallet.

BTTC supports two wallet extensions currently, TronLink and MetaMask. To start using one of these wallets for storing your BTT, you can have a look at the official guide here.

BitTorrent Energy Consumption

BitTorrent Chain is a proof-of-stake (PoS) sidechain that connects to main chains like Ethereum, TRON, and BSC.

Cryptocurrencies tend to be criticized by the mainstream media for their supposed levels of energy consumption. However, this sort of criticism only applies to proof-of-work (PoW) cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.

PoW blockchains require many computers to stay active 24/7, funneling all of their computing power towards the security of the network—and, the more computers across the world dedicated to this task, the better.

On the other hand, PoS chains like BTTC only require validators to stay online and work in this fashion. Although anyone can apply to be a validator, the actual number of validators on the network is quite low. The current validator leaderboard can be viewed on the BTTC explorer.

As this list suggests, the number of active validators is relatively low. On the plus side, the network’s total power draw simply boils down to these nodes and the power required to keep them running.

Is BTT a Good Investment?

Any investment comes with risks, and if popular media is to be believed, that is especially true of cryptocurrencies.

BitTorrent has skirted the border of risk and reward for years, from the questions of legality around file sharing, the lawsuits imposed on users, and then the introduction of a cryptocurrency to incentivize the use of the protocol further.

BTTC is a project that has appeal beyond just the BitTorrent name, with its updated image and purpose serving a significant niche in the blockchain industry.

However, its lack of decentralization is a concern for some. This isn’t a fault of the project and its management, and in fact, the DAO structure set up for governance is an attempt to further spread the stakeholding of BTTC far and wide.

Nevertheless, with a limited number of validators comes an element of vulnerability. That’s because attackers need to take over just a few nodes to be able to disrupt and even subvert the protocol.

Ultimately, though, an investment in BTT could be viewed as an investment in the future of BitTorrent, a service that has defined generations and continues to provide many with an escape from the tightening grasp of the corporate internet.