Google and blockchain haven’t been used too much in the same sentence. This company even banned cryptocurrency ads in 2018. However, Google’s stance on the blockchain is about to change.
Google Cloud and a blockchain company called Theta Labs have partnered up on a new project. For many, this means the new chapter in the story of Google blockchain.
Theta is steering this ship for the moment as the job of Google Cloud is to be a validator for the blockchain network. It may seem like a small step for Google, but this could be a giant leap towards the embrace of the blockchain technology by the technology giant.
How Is Google-Theta Project Supposed to Work?
When you’re watching a movie on Netflix, the service is taking the content from centralized data centers and sending it your way. Theta, however, promotes another approach. It uses a decentralized system, which would transfer the content in tiny packages across the extreme edges of the network.
This means that bits of content will travel from one device to another along the network. In a hypothetical situation in which you’ve decided to watch a movie on Theta, chunks of the content will travel to your neighbor’s TV if they decide to watch the same film a bit later. As a result, one download from the servers could result in a really large number of views.
It’s as if you took a book from the library and handed it to your neighbors once you’ve finished reading it. The main difference is that in this case, it’s not paper books you’re handing around but digital content.
If you’re wondering what’s the role of Google Cloud in all this, the answer is to validate. By definition, a validator is a blockchain network whose purpose is to decide whether a transaction is legit.
YouTube To Go Blockchain As Well?
When you watch a YouTube clip, you practically download that content to your computer. That’s how streaming works. At the present moment, your first-door neighbor will have to do exactly that in order to stream the same video on their computer.
However, by adding the blockchain technology to the equation, the existing principle could change. Your neighbor could take small chunks of content from your computer, TV, or some other device. It would then go on like that until a streaming network is created, spreading the content to anyone interested.
The only problem with this is that in order for the content spread to function, everyone needs to be interested in practically the same stuff. This is where YouTube steps in, a streaming service that’s relying on ‘viral videos.’ By implementing the blockchain technology, viral YouTube videos would become even more viral.
Speaking of YouTube, its popularity has been increasing steadily since day one. However, more recently, YouTube has experienced a massive boost in the number of users. During the COVID-19 lockdown, this service has leapfrogged Netflix to the top of the list of the most popular content providers on the internet.
