Current's goal is to compensate users for streaming from networks like Spotify, YouTube and SoundCloud. The reason they chose to use the blockchain is mostly due to the transparent accounting that they believe is needed for the instant valuation of time, data, and attention. One important note is that they are hybrid, so they have both on-chain and off-chain solutions. They mention in the whitepaper that in the short-term, they will use a proprietary algorithm in order to create personalised content recommendations across networks in a universal media platform.

They want to give consumers more ways to pay for content and content creators new ways to be compensated. I think this project could fix the issue with streaming services not paying artists enough. The blockchain by removing the middleman would give direct access between consumers and content creators, and that will hopefully increase the artists payout.

The thing is, attention and personal data is what every company is fighting for on the internet. Currently, four companies own the bulk of it: Apple, Facebook, Microsoft and Google. So, current wants to help create the Web 3.0 by redefining the value exchange between consumers and companies. Projects like dock.io are already are trying to build the data layer on the blockchain. So, current will be tapping this same market.

They are aware of the privacy issues that are currently affecting some of these big corporations and mention in their whitepaper that they put the users in control and give them control over their data with opt-in and opt-out features. So users can choose whether or not to contribute to the platform or decide what to share with the network and adjust the privacy settings accordingly.

The protocol

They are building a protocol that will record the transactions on the blockchain in order to create a transparent and trustworthy place for the exchange of data. The way this works is that when a user consumes, curates or creates content a smart contract will be used to respond to that action and distribute CRNC tokens.

The protocol works in basically 3 steps:

(1) verify the initialiser;
(2) calculate the value of the action to the network (such as consuming, curating or creating content); and
(3) calculate the appropriate token reward to distribute to the contributors.

The Token

Current will use an ERC-20 utility token implemented on the Ethereum blockchain that will have the purpose of reducing or even eliminate premium subscriptions to popular content providers. In other words, they want to use this token, CRNC (which is pronounced “currency”) to allow users to pay less for media content. Thus, they want to empower users to earn cryptocurrency and use it in many products, services, and in-platform advertising.

In the beginning the primary way to earn tokens in the current platform is by streaming media. They explain in more detail in the whitepaper how the different stakeholders such as consumers, creators and curators earn tokens in the platform.

Then these tokens can be used as a cash substitute in the platform to buy not only digital but also physical goods. In addition, as I mentioned before, users can use the currency tokens to pay for premium services as well. These services might include offline listening, Ad-free streaming and exclusive uploaded content.

Roadmap

As far as the roadmap is concerned, we are entering the phase two and it continues until quarter four of 2019.

Advisors

Current has a very famous advisor, Mark Cuban whom can bring a lot of attention to this product. Since their mission statement is quite ambitious having someone in the team with this kind of reach I think it's a huge plus.

That's all about Current. In essence, they want to give users more ways to stream and pay for their favourite music and video. The problem that they want to solve is that consumers miss out on good content and creators don’t get paid enough. So, they want to pay creators more and cut consumer costs through a blockchain enabled multimedia platform.

• Current website: http://current.us
• Telegram group: https://t.me/CurrentCRNC
• ANN: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2829644.0

Let me know your thoughts about this product in the comments, please follow me if you're not already and as always thank you for reading and I'll see you next time :)