How Streamr’s decentralized network is changing data sharing

With data becoming synonymous with “digital gold,” it's no surprise that demand for real-time data access is increasing. Similarly, as Web 3 or decentralized technologies emerge, the weaknesses of centralized services in the Web 3 stack are being addressed.

Streamr is one such decentralized project, as it allows data to travel through a global peer-to-peer network that is scalable, robust and permissionless. Streamr differentiates itself by leveraging data sharing through blockchain technology.

Streamr's real-time data delivery system works through a P2P or Peer-to-Peer network in pub-sub fashion. Pub-sub or Publish-Subscribe is an asynchronous communication model that supports scalable and reliable communication.

Similar to BitTorrent, Streamr is a network of nodes that transmit messages to each other without intermediaries. But the key difference between the two is that Streamr is for real-time data streams, while BitTorrent doesn't do real-time data streams.

In the year Launched in 2017, Streamr was started by the founders of Streamr who believed there needed to be a way to connect billions of devices with real-time data through a decentralized network.

The importance of real-time data should be emphasized, especially with the development of DePIN or decentralized physical infrastructures. This is because DP helps transfer the work of large data centers around the world to non-technical people, which ultimately brings great benefits, especially trust.

DPin is owned and managed by users, so it is neither public nor private infrastructure. DePINs enable the building of real-time data ecosystems, providing additional services that help add value to stakeholders and support the ecosystem.

At the same time, the development of decentralized future, this will help to run decentralized applications or dApps, so real-time information is needed. DApps need external data to function, and if they continue to depend on existing centralized data networks, dApps will ultimately be responsible for all the problems in Web 2.

These liabilities are the vulnerability of user data to cyber attacks, power remaining in the hands of the few, total lack of robustness, misuse of personal data, monopolistic positions resulting in inflated costs, and the risk of a single point of failure.

These issues bring concerns not only to the creation of decentralized applications, but also to the decentralized Internet or Web 3, which promises to give consumers more power over their data through decentralized governance.

While the ecosystem of decentralized P2P networks already exists, Streamr development takes a completely different approach by focusing on real-time data. With the help of this real-time data, anyone can publish events on data streams and anyone can subscribe to streams.

First of all, Streamr is a P2P network that uses a Pub-sub messaging pattern, including one-to-many, many-to-many or many-to-one streams. This allows DEPIN builders to build in an UP, ACROSS or BROADCAST fashion, depending on different use cases.

For example, DMO, an open and user-owned IoT network using Streamr, is built in UP fashion from mining to networking. With the help of DMO, developers can easily access barometric pressure, temperatures and other weather related information in real time. This provides an ideal solution for developers who need weather data to enhance their applications.

In the future, DIMO plans to build in ACROSS fashion, which will provide more flexibility to connect miners. This helps ensure that the DIMO data stream is completely decentralized and not owned or controlled by any centralized authority.

Streamr 1.0, the final milestone in Streamr's original 2017 roadmap, means that when implemented, it will bring the implementation of Network Tokenomics, meaning that the network will be fully decentralized. Anyone can now set up an operator node, and agents can now transfer their tokens to the operator node.

In the Streamr Network, both data publishers and subscribers are nodes in a P2P network.

Nodes participating in a data stream communicate with each other in a certain way, ultimately forming the topology of the stream, which is where the main function of the Streamr Network takes place.

Therefore, each node that joins the stream does two things: it consumes the data and forwards it to other nodes interested in the stream.

Honest and stable nodes are rewarded, which is the foundation of Streamr Network Tokenomics, in order to encourage good nodes that ensure strong and stable flow of data. Streamr tokenomics works similarly to Ethereum gas pricing. In Ethereum, users are at war to encourage miners to execute faster.

On Streamr, users sometimes pay little or nothing if they are happy with best-effort performance. You can pay to incentivize nodes to make the stream stronger and safer.

However, it is important to note that Streamr Network tokenomics is not dependent on purchasing additional data access on The Hub. On the network, users pay infrastructure costs for the provision of information. At the application layer, users pay to access data content.

Users can use the network for information delivery without using The Hub, similar to someone who can send and receive packages without ordering products or services from online stores.

Streamr's infrastructure includes a technology stack that helps connect and power computers in a global peer-to-peer network. The entire stack is built on a decentralized transport layer, which helps ensure resilience, fault tolerance, robustness, transparency, decentralization and community building.

To facilitate their goals, the Streamr stack offers the following multi-layered technology stack:

Streamr Hub

Hub or Streamr Hub serves as a gateway for developers, helping them create and connect to live streaming data. The resource is a portal that leads directly to the Streamr network and is a step forward towards a more conscious open data approach, all while ensuring that it does not compromise any of the Web3 ethos.

Apart from DMO, there are several other projects on the Hub. The first involves Polygon, in which Polygon verifiers are sharing live parameters of their verifier nodes. The second includes EthWatch, which broadcasts a live stream of Ethereum and Polygon contract events.

Other projects built using Streamr include Swash, Redstone, and Unbanks. In the DPin space, outside DMOs include MapMetrics, IoTeX and Peaq Network.

As demand for AI grows, Streamr hub features 90% of the AI ​​marketplace. The smart contracts can be extended to allow users to publish requests that can access the output of a remotely executed model for paid access.

Ultimately, the goal of the Streamr hub is to streamline discovery and deliver what data is out there, give users a comprehensive toolkit to create with management, and make it easy for users to sign up. The data flow of your choice.

Streamr Network

Streamr Network acts as the “transport layer” of the entire streaming stack. The network handles all messaging in a decentralized data pipeline. This layer consists of primitives known as events and streams and broker nodes.

Streamr Nodes run on primitives, and a collection of broker nodes comprise a P2P network that hosts decentralized messaging. The infrastructure layer, on the other hand, uses the Ethereum stack, which implements smart contracts, as node coordination requires strong consensus.

The Streamr network consists of many different components, all of which play an important role in transporting data. These include:

Events

An event is time-stamped data containing headers and content. Headers provide the vent's metadata, including timestamp, content type, and origin. The content provides information on what format the content is in. Both are encrypted in binary format.

Streams

All events that occur are part of the stream. They are grouped logically and placed in ascending order. All metadata is stored on the Ethereum smart contract. Streams contain five different pieces of information: user ID, name, description, owner, and permissions.

Print – register

Data delivery in the Streamr network follows a publish-subscribe model. Events will be delivered instantly to everyone who is authorized and subscribed to the stream. This may be limited depending on what access the user has.

share

Not all Streamr nodes handle all traffic to achieve scalability. This is because event traffic throughout the network is split into many independent segments. Each broker node handles traffic belonging to different partitions.

Intersection coordination

Streamr uses node coordination, which acts as a key coordinator to assign network partitions to broker nodes in the network. Node coordination helps maintain changes when nodes appear and disappear. The Streamr network uses the underlying Ethereum network to create a peer-to-peer peer-to-peer peer-to-peer network.

Encouragement

Streamr incentivizes operators (who act as miners on Streamr) to do two things: report their assigned dividend checks to the network and provide the data to any smart contract subscribers. Streamr sends them $DATA to encourage them.

Persistence of event

Events in data streams persist across the P2P network so that Streamr can turn the entire network into a decentralized time series database. The resulting decentralization allows the Streamr network to achieve greater robustness, fault tolerance, anonymity, and lower costs.

Data provenance

To ensure that hackers do not use data for their financial gain, Streamr Network encrypts private key signatures. This helps ensure the integrity of the data and ensures that events on the network always have a verifiable signature.

Data confidentiality

Since anyone can participate in the Streamr network by running a node, all non-public streams in the Streamr network are encrypted per event. This encryption is done with the help of asymmetric key encryption. Such an approach, combined with the help of encryption, brings security.

Streamr smart contracts

While several Ethereum-based smart contracts support the Streamr Network and The Hub, the Streamr Network also uses its own smart contracts. These smart contracts help improve coordination, permissions, incentives, and integrity checks.

Stream

A stream smart contract is the main smart contract that holds the static data and the permissions of the stream.

Stream archive

A stream registry contract contains useful information about known streams in the network.

Network coordinator

The network coordinator assigns partitions to broker nodes. These Streamr Nodes register themselves with the coordinator and receive updates on the state of the network by viewing the smart contract.

$DATA

Finally, the $DATA token in the Streamr stack is a compensation mechanism between data producers and consumers. It is an ERC 20 token that ensures that the payments are held securely. It also offers compatibility with various wallets and other tokens. $DATA has the following main functions.

Implement a monetization mechanism for data producers, which will help them get involved as data providers wherever they are needed and help the community grow for the benefit of all.

Additionally, $DATA is an incentive to maintain and operate a P2P network, as it consumes resources, time, computing power, and communication bandwidth. Without such an incentive, Streamr Nodes will not participate and the entire P2P network where real-time data is processed will fail.

$DATA's core app involves developers and subscribers paying for the data they want to access using $DATA. In addition, data producers and network participants are paid securely and automatically through $DATA participation. Tokens can also be obtained by running a specific node and then placing $DATA tokens on that node.

Streamr pays out stock awards with the help of a supply inflation process, which is aided by the project's management. In Streamr 1.0, proxy staking was introduced, allowing token holders to not only run a node, but share their $DATA in exchange for rewards.

Streaming sponsorships are the final phase of the streaming project as they bring a long-awaited layer of incentives that will fully power the $DATA token economy. As streams are the network overlay, stream sponsorship attracts new nodes to join the network. With this help, the Streamr network will be stronger against external attacks.

It also helps prevent data loss caused by node outages. As crank nodes continuously join and leave the stream, it adds instability to the topology, resulting in message flow disruption.

In other words, with the help of sponsorship, Streamr nodes become bulletproof.

Sponsorships work with the help of a smart contract that releases the money to the participating operators over time. Sponsors will fund sponsors as they will be the ones who create them by defining the terms of participation.

The smart contract helps ensure that the agreed terms are met, and then the DATA tokens are transferred. They must fulfill their promise not to lose their tokens.

Operators and representatives

Operators are Streamr node runners. Operators can join or leave a sponsorship at any time. Delegates, on the other hand, are passive liquidity providers to operators. In return, they receive revenue from well-performing operators.

The life cycle of a streaming sponsorship consists of 5 different stages and is as follows.

First, a sponsorship smart contract is created, which defines all policies and criteria. Secondly, sponsors pay DATA tokens on agreed terms. Thirdly, operators join by joining sponsorship. Fourth, operators join the sponsored streaming network and transmit the information in the stream.

In the final stage, if the sponsorship is low on tokens or completed, they can be “topped up” or the reward will be given based on the configured emission rate. This process allows sponsorship contracts to act as a decentralized mechanism to help manage revenue streams spread across different operators.

Streamr's unique selling point is its decentralized web or web 3 real-time data infrastructure, which already differentiates it from its competitors. There are many other advantages that Streamr brings, but other decentralized data storage projects cannot. Some of these include:

The simplicity of mining

Unlike Filecoin, which is one of Streamr's main competitors, users will find mining easier and part of the network. In Filecon's case, users have to buy expensive hardware. Additionally, users must have some experience in systems deployment and administration, which makes it extremely difficult for non-technical people to enter.

In the case of Streamr, the barrier to entry is kept as low as possible, as the project believes that this is the only way for the blockchain ecosystem to grow.

Accurate token distribution

There is always the fear of FIL, the native FileCoin network being thrown by its advisors. This is because, at the time of launch, almost half of the file supply was given to the consultants at half the price. In fact, members of the FileCoin community accused the 2020 token dump when an unknown account received 1.5 million FIL tokens.

Meanwhile, Streamr made sure the $DATA supply was done properly.

Unbiased

Another key area that helps Streamr differentiate itself from other projects is that it takes a neutral stance on data and content.

On the other hand, Arwave has a democratic content policy, which creates conflict because network nodes have the power to blacklist certain types of data, which hinders the idea of ​​an “open economy”.

Emphasis on adequate user interfaces and appropriate information

Streamr has a strong focus on a developer user interface that is very easy to use and aimed at people with relatively little technical background. One of its main competitors, Siacoin, has yet to provide adequate user interfaces.

A similar issue exists with Arwave, where project developers cannot provide in-depth information that can help developers build on the stack. What Streamr offers is unique in that it provides a deep and dense knowledge base for developers to navigate in a relatively easy way without any hassles.

The importance of data, especially the real-time data market and the combination of the data pipeline, all decentralized will change the entire Web3, especially since this decentralized ecosystem provides exposure to data that has never existed before. While decentralization remains true, it is foremost.

Streamr consists of a technology stack that is layered and modular to allow non-tech individuals to participate in the network in one capacity or another.

It also hosts the publish-subscribe mechanism, which is a framework for exchanging messages between publishers and is widely used in Web2 due to its reliability. Streamr uses the same framework as it is decentralized, distributed across multiple nodes rather than concentrated in one location.

To ensure transactions are moderated, with minimal latency, Streamr divides the output balance linearly. This allows the network to not only scale, but to process millions of transactions per second.

Streamr allows users to sell their data directly, giving them the power to monetize their data, all while knowing that companies and industries will use their data. With this transparency, users are empowered unlike a centralized system where power is monopolized.

Anyone with a personal computer or laptop can become a part of the Streamr network by becoming a node operator and earning production on held tokens.

Proving its versatility and adaptability, Streamr has the potential to transform a variety of industries and applications. Some of the emerging use cases for Streamr include:

[1] Video stream

Traditional streaming services often need help with bandwidth limitations and central server angst. Streamers are P2P distribution nodes when they use the stream, and streamers help the P2P network distribute video content more efficiently. This helps improve the user experience.

[2] Decentralized AI

Streamr helps provide a robust infrastructure for real-time data collection and distribution. This is essential for training AI models, ultimately ensuring that AI systems can operate without the bottlenecks of centralized data servers. This helps enable more efficient and scalable AI solutions.

The Streamr developer community has created the next generation of AI technologies. Some of these AI technologies include Streamr node AI plugin, AI video streaming, LLM routing, AI chat, Verified AI, AI Audits and AI data crowdsourcing.

As the importance of decentralized data exchanges becomes more apparent, Streamr can provide assistance to the entire Metaverse ecosystem. This can be done on the basis of real-time information transmission, which enhances the interactivity and responsiveness of virtual metaverse worlds.

[4] Web 3 game

As the need for real-time data exchange and decentralized infrastructure is expected in the fast-growing world of web 3 games, Streamr provides a robust solution. It provides a platform for game developers to build decentralized gaming experiences with real-time player interactions and data exchanges.

[5] dApp messaging

Decentralized applications (dApps) sometimes rely on a centralized server for messaging, which goes against the Web 3 ethos. Streamr brings a solution as it can provide a decentralized messaging platform that allows dApps to adopt decentralization.

Decentralization is the answer that consumers are looking for as their trust in large corporations diminishes. As information becomes an integral part of our daily lives, it is only important to ensure that it is not monopolized like in other industries.

Projects like Streamr provide an important answer to the problem by giving users maximum ownership and freedom over their data. Streamr allows users to access data in real-time, empowering existing infrastructure by allowing it to be more decentralized.

Streamr is bringing this power to individuals while improving user privacy, resiliency, fault tolerance and efficiency. This will help the Internet to be more connected and decentralized in the future, users will have more freedom over their data and authority over important decisions.

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