Peer-to-peer video streaming network Theta, which awards many of its million monthly users in exchange for unused bandwidth, is expanding its array of services and now wading into non-fungible tokens (NFT).

Backed by Sony Group Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co, last week, singer Katy Perry also joined in saying she would make NFTs of her performances available on the network.

The singer also said she is taking an undisclosed stake in the company.

“I’m both excited and curious to be launching my first ever NFTs later this year with Theta Network,” the singer said at the time.

“This is a new, unique opportunity to connect with my fans around the world,” she said adding,  “I can’t wait to dive in with the Theta team on all the exciting and memorable creative pieces, so my fans can own a special moment of my residency that’s both a digital collectible as well as an IRL experience.”

Mitch Liu, CEO of Theta Labs, which raised $20 million in an initial coin offering (ICO) in late 2017 and owns 20% of all THETA supply, called this collaboration an “important inflection point” in Theta Network’s history.

This would take the network another step closer to global adoption and “an important milestone towards a million daily transactions on the Theta network,” he said.

Theta Labs has also launched a decentralized exchange (DEX). “Both Compound and Uniswap can run on Theta without any code change,” said Liu.

As of writing, the $6.2 billion market cap token THETA is trading at $6, down 62% from its all-time of $15.72 in mid-April but still up 215% YTD.

“It’s not just a pure financial incentive or goal, we are really creating a new ecosystem,” said Ali Farahanchi, partner at venture-capital firm DHVC which is an equity investor in Theta.

“This is a new way of conducting business… that’s kind of decentralized streaming. We are just getting started.”

According to Liu, an average Theta.tv user watches for about 63 minutes a day, and a heavy “viewer can get $5-$10 a month.”

“It’s significant in developing countries. And that pays for half of your Netflix subscription,” said Liu adding while their audience isn't growing, it has stayed stable for years.

“We made a strategic decision that we are not going to be competing with YouTube,” he said. YouTube and Twitch co-founders are among the company’s advisers.

Meanwhile, the token THETA can be staked in exchange for which stakers receive a secondary token called TFuel, which itself is a $2 billion market cap token trading at $0.37. TFuel tokens are also earned by Theta network users for sharing their bandwidth with others.

Last week, the project announced the launch of its mainnet, which saw the total staked TFUEL passing 1 billion.

“Mainnet 3.0 has successfully launched! At block height 10,968,061 the chain forked to MN3.0 code and TFuel staking was enabled,” said the team.

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