DECENT Chance at Success: The Content Distribution Revolution Arises
A disruption of major proportions featuring a decentralized model is rocketing forward at full speed. Leading the charge is DECENT, a Swiss-based firm that endeavors to reshape the content distribution sector through a new blockchain-centric delivery platform. Their aim is to solve four prevailing issues in the media world:
- Lack of innovation in mainstream media
- Third-party access and control of digital content
- Assaults on freedom of speech including but limited to the monitoring, manipulation, and removal of content
- Barriers hindering the direct relationship between writers and consumers.
Here, DECENT is at the epicenter of a global movement to provide sovereignty to the digital content distribution realm. The ultimate goal is to offer a fresh approach to the sharing of information and ideas on the Internet today.
In its full iteration, DECENT will employ blockchain technology to create a new universe of censorship-free, fully integrated independent publishing, replete with micro-payments between consumers and content creators and a voting and reputation system. The system endeavors to reinvent the way in which movies, photos, music, blogs, articles and other forms of digital files are distributed. Robust cryptography will be utilized to ensure data and information confidentiality and keep it out of the prying hands of interfering third parties.
Quelling outside intermediaries is viewed as a prized feature of DECENT’s proposed efforts. Take, for example, the publishing world where book authors fork over upwards of 70 percent of their profits to places like Amazon. In the same vain, independent musicians that sell their music on iTunes end up losing about 30 percent of their returns to Apple.
As an alternative to this legacy model, DECENT seeks to free these creators from middleman and manipulators by distributing content at near-zero cost, while maximizing the reward accrued by the producers. In early 2016, the platform prototype was completed; the scheduled launch is set for the first or second quarter of 2017.
Investment and Forward Push
DECENT has accumulated more than $3.5 million in investment monies (referred to as DCT) since its Initial Coin Offering (ICO) commenced on September 11. When the offering closes on November 6, backers will be issued DCT tokens. Additionally, public investors can use Bitcoin or fiat as payment options to join the DECENT ICO. The DCT distributed will be 70 percent of the total DCT volume, with the other 30 percent targeted to mining rewards.
DECENT is the brainchild of two Slovakians and long-term friends by the same first name, Matej Michalko and Matej Boda. It grew out of a mutual vision regarding the utility of Blockchain technology as a new normal for digital content publishing and sharing.
Says DECENT co-founder Boda: “We are thrilled that so many people around the world are seeing such value in our platform because the content distribution industry has been encumbered with catastrophic problems for years. In particular, maintaining and policing Digital Rights Management and Intellectual Property has become extremely difficult, even as access to content has become easier.”
“Our technology makes it possible to track and secure each piece of content on the network from the moment it is created and uploaded because it is timestamped and immutable. We can effectively eliminate piracy and at the same time, maintain user privacy through data encryption.”
Boda goes on to say that the idea behind the DECENT network originated when he met with his old-time friend Matej Michalko and decided to co-organize Bitcoin conferences. During the Bitcoin Expo in London, Shanghai, CEBEXPO Vienna and Bitcoin 2 Business Brussels they had multiple conversations about the crypto-environment and the future possibilities of Blockchain-based projects and applications. After sharing insights into various cryptocurrencies, they came up with an idea that could leverage blockchain technology in order to create a unified system of digital content distribution all around the globe.
A major factor behind their work, he says, is addressing problems associated with the current environment of content privacy, third-party manipulation, and user privacy facing creators. Boda notes that level of third party influence varies across sectors and countries. But whether it is movie or music distribution, e-book publishing, sensitive business-related or personal data distribution, copyright infringement and data breaches occur on a daily basis, he laments. “Authors, individuals, businesses, and organizations are all constantly searching for a way to stay protected in today’s online world. DECENT’s goal is to become the alternative to present-day systems through an innovative, blockchain-based distribution network,” says Boda.
In terms of his ultimate hope for DECENT in terms of global impact, Boda remains optimistic:
“DECENT aims to become a widely used system of content distribution and kick start a much needed digital revolution. Through secure and trustworthy digital content sharing, our platform will provide a vertically integrated system for industries, organizations, and businesses that we hope will become the envy of the world.”